Breath Of Heaven

I sat there at my daddy's bedside, I sat and I watched the heaving in his chest. Up and down, up and down, struggling for air. The doctor's baffled not knowing what was happening in his body. Rushing, spinning, the room, my heart. After surgery we were called in to visit. There lay my strong daddy, the man that used to lift me over his head, with a tube breathing for him. I had to stay strong for those around me, but after I found a room and I collapsed. I cried, I cried out to the Lord, I ask Him to please let me have my daddy a little longer. Selfish, I know. I want my kids to know how blessed they are to have such a wonderful Papaw, I want Rebekah to meet him, I want to have more time with him. We went to a hotel close by since he was so critical and again I found a place. I sank down in the bathtub on my face before God, begging.

My daddy is coming home today, not going home to his eternal home, but home. This situation has drained me physically, spiritually, and emotionally, but it has me thinking too. I have been pondering heaven. A place of complete peace and rest. To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. It's so hard to find Him here sometimes. There are principalities and powers of darkness waging a war for our souls, for our affections, for our trust. I couldn't feel His presence even though I knew He was there. There was no emotional experience. Having His word in my heart is what held me. Knowing what He says and knowing it is true. This is not our home. We are pilgrims here. There is a place that awaits those of us that belong to Yahweh. He says in His word that He is preparing that place just for us. When we remain earthly minded we forget the heavenly realm. Ministering spirits sent to aid us in this world, perfect light, perfect love, perfect peace. Jesus Christ forever!

This life is so hard, babies dying every day, sick loved ones, pain, poverty, orphans, bombings, hate, death. We have hope in the eternal, a new body, consuming beauty, loved ones that have died in Christ, the cloud of witnesses that have watched our story unfold. I can't imagine not having hope in heaven through Jesus, struggling through this time here, this vapor of a life with no hope. How do those of you without Christ cope?

Lord, what is man, that you take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. Psalms 144:4-5