Corona Devo 2001

When was the last time we got stung by a bee or wasp?  

Ouch!  Even if it has been years...we can still feel that "sting" in our mind: it's hard to forget that kind of pain.  

But, odds are, we have some sort of other (emotional/physical/mental/spiritual) pain in our lives and heart today...and we don't have to "remember" what that pain is like...it's right here.  The sting is present and the pain is currently inflicting.  

We are persevering and enduring, but it doesn't really feel as if we are overcoming.  No, the sting of this trial/suffering/injustice/unsettlement stays.  The hurt of it not-going-away persists.  

We smile.  
We go through the daily routines.  
We keep on keeping-on, but the pain of death (we miss our loved one), the weight of sorrow (Should life be this hard?), the exhaustion of crying tears and crying out to God...it hurts.  

This world and this earth have a heaviness and a hurt to them.  The sun shines and we have some good days...but the storms and heavy downpours of life keep pounding us, and the threat of the next squall is always present.  

Will it always be this way?

We'd like to go to a place where troubles melt like lemon drops.  Yes, that's where we'd like to be found.

~~~
I have a kitchen plaque that smiles at me from my sink, and it reads, "Where troubles melt like lemon drops", which comes from the Judy Garland song, Over the Rainbow.

The other day I noticed that a yellow jacket had died right on top of my "troubles melt like lemon drops" sign.  

What are the odds of that?  

And then God stung my heart with the truth and the promise that He provides to each (and every!) person who puts their faith in Him: Our troubles will (one day) melt like lemon drops when we join our Heavenly Father in Heaven, and death will lose its sting.  

The "Ouches!" of this earth will pass away.  It's hard to believe that could be (completely) true, but God tells us so in the Bible, and faith is believing in what he says.

We serve a risen Savior (Jesus!) and so we can have hope today in what He says about tomorrow...and we can have peace.  

But let's take a peek (in the Bible) at what we are hoping-for.  At what and where God says is "next".  After we say "Good-bye" to this world full of stings and pain," God says that we will say, "Hello" to a place (Heaven), "where troubles melt like lemon drops".  

That's where you'll find us.

And, it will be better than the refrain of a catchy song.  It will be like nothing and no-where that we have ever seen or experienced.  

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 

(2) Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

(3) And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

(4) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  

(5) Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”  

(6) And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. (7) He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (8) But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  ~Revelation 21:1-8


God gives us a glimpse of "tomorrow", and I know why.  So that (today), we can bear the pain.  So that (today) we can supersede the sorrow, and so that (today), we can endure the sting.  

This earth has the heaviness of sin permeating through every day and every heart.  

But take heart.  God has overcome the world (John 16:33), and He has saved every Believer-in-Him a seat in a new place.  There will be-to-come a new heaven and a new earth, where troubles melt like lemon drops.

The Lord loves us so very much.  He sees us and the struggles (and stings) that we face today.  And He gives us His Word as His promise and His covenant with us.

Just as there was a dead bee that will no longer sting anyone laying on my "where troubles melt like lemon drops" plaque...the sting and hurt and hate of this earth will lay dead and dormant to us when God dwells with us in Heaven. 

“Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?"  ~I Corinthians 15:55

Persevere today, Pilgrim!

Keep on keeping-on today, Comrade!

Don't quit, Daughters and Sons of God!

He who overcomes shall inherit all things... ~Revelation 21:7

The Bible tells us today that we have a place waiting for us.   A place where troubles melt like lemon drops.

That's where you'll find us.

Blessings,  

sarah  

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com

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