Corona Devo 1633

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.   ~Hebrews 11:1

A light went out in our family this week. A patriarchal beacon that burned steady and true for eighty years flickered away.  

When the light of a life well-loved goes out, you would expect darkness to follow, and if the world is our hope, then this is the case.  

Emptiness, hopelessness and darkness surround death without Jesus.  But in Christ and because of Christ: we have hope.  

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, (20) where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever...   ~Hebrews 6:19-20

If we know Jesus, then instead of darkness, we have the light of God's hope.  And we have this hope as an anchor for the soul.

If those that we love and have died knew Jesus, then we can trust (in faith) that although their earthly light has been doused, they now burn brightly in Glory as they worship the Giver of light.  

• When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  ~John 8:12  

• For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.  ~Psalm 36:9

We felt and will continue to feel loss, sorrow, and aching for the pillar of our family that has fallen.  But as we moved through shock and into acceptance, there was no darkness, and only light, light, and more light.

God's light and hope...Shining through family members who cooked dinner for thirty people in their state and then drove nine hours to provide the meal with love and comfort.  

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.  ~I Timothy 5:8

~~~

God's light and hope...Shining through the calls, texts, cards and hugs given out of honest love, that could only be of God.

God's light and hope...Shining through the cheer-up efforts of those who meet us when we are low and who lift us up in love.

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 1  ~Job 2:11-13

~~~

God's light and hope...as evidenced and experienced through the family reunion of loved ones gathering from across the Nation.  The impetus being death, but the outcome being love, family, and LIFE together.  

None of us could have imagined that the life that we experienced this week would come from the death that we experienced this week.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  ~Isaiah 55:8-9

~~~

Yes, there is a sadness to death.  A shock and a jarring and a breaking of our heart because a piece of it has been removed.  But in Christ, there needn't be a darkness to death, and He still reigns in the midst of it.  

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”.  ~Job 1:21

And we can bless the name of the Lord, even in death because He is near and palpable.  In God's sovereignty, He provides birth (of joy/family/reunion/hope) even in the midst of death.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  ~Psalm 34:18

~~~

In Christ and because of Christ: we can celebrate life and death today, because we have His hope.  

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  ~Hebrews 6:19

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com