Great Cloud of Witnesses

Ever wonder what your loved one who passed away is looking at?

I do.

Pastor Greg Laurie was speaking on heaven the other day and I caught a bit of it on the radio.

Heaven.

We all long to be there...

Yet when someone passes away abruptly we say "Gone too soon."

My friend Sally Palacios passed away from COVID in 2021. She was 46 and very full of life.

She loved Jesus and served Him so passionately.

At her service, one of the speakers said that there were a lot of children coughing and rubbing their noses during VBS (Vacation Bible School). 

She said, "Well if I get COVID, and if I pass away, at least I will know I died serving the LORD."

I do not know for certain how or when she got COVID but she understood the reality of this pandemic. 

In fact, her mom passed away from COVID months earlier...

She knew COVID could be deadly...

I prayed fervently for her.

I loved her very much although I had not seen in her in a few years...We had a friendship- a joy in Jesus-ship where if she called me or text me or either of us posted on social media about the LORD, we encouraged each other...

When she passed...I couldn't help but weep for days and days...

One day I drove Olivia to dance class and needed this time alone in the car to cry and talk to Jesus.

I prayed "God her life is over."

The LORD spoke to my heart in His still small voice, "Who said her life is over? It's only just begun"

Wow.

My mind was blown.

As a believer, we know "To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD." This is straight Truth. (2 Cor 5:8)

However, when someone is physically gone...Their spirit has departed their body and they now have no oxygen...we immediately feel so heart broken for the family and friends and even ourselves. 

Tim entered eternity on 1/1/22. A heartbreaking phone call at 9:00am on New Year's Day. Timmed passed. I immediately started to cry and my sweet boy Isaac sad "Mommy sad. She went away."

He understood!

I cannot explain it. But somehow someway Isaac understood that our friend had passed from this life to the next.

When we think and ponder heaven, it can be easy to get weird and say "They are angels now" or "They are smiling down on us" or "They are resting in peace"

But what does the Bible say about heaven? 

Greg Laurie said recently "Your loved one who accepted Jesus is now HOME. They are home. We miss them dearly. We are homesick for a place we haven't visited yet. Like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, "There's No Place Like Home"

Yes Jesus! You are our Home. You are our true Home. We are just pilgrim's passing through.

My husband was reflecting on Tim's life. They had a friendship that spanned decades. He met Timmy Krueger when Tim was 15 and Chuck was 17. Tim went to heaven at the age of 42. 

Chuck was praying and thinking and shared something so powerful with me.

Tim was a very big baseball fan. 

Chuck shared, "God gave me an image. Tim made it to home plate. The bases were loaded. He hit the ball and he ran. He ran and ran and made it home. The coach ran out to hug him. The crowd cheered! He made it! He made it home. Well done good and faithful servant."

Who was in the crowd?

Who is up in the stands cheering?

"Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith....who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

Prior to this verse, the book of Hebrews outlines the hall of faith...many are listed by name including Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, David, Samuel, martyrs (people who died physically for their faith)... (see Hebrews 11:1-40)

The great cloud of witnesses are ALL the saints from Adam all the way through the saints who passed in 2020, 2021 and even in 2022...

Tim heard well done good and faithful servant.

Sally heard well done good and faithful servant.

The angels and saints cheered, but more awe inspiring than this is that JESUS welcomed them home.

We ARE called to run this race.

We do not know how many days on earth we will each have.

For Tim it was 42, for Sally 46, for Chuck's grandma 96, for Lenya Lusko (Pastor Levi and Jennie Lusko's daughter, it was 5. I just received a prayer request for a mom I do not know-her 2 year old daughter died suddenly this week. 2 years. Can you imagine?

God remembers our frame that we are dust. 

I confess that I am eager to meet with Jesus, kiss the feet of Jesus, worship Jesus and put my fingers in his nail printed hands than I am to see the great cloud of witnesses....Yet they will be part of the welcoming party too!

For those of you who are sports fans...you witnessed NBA teams play with no fans. You witnessed football teams play in empty stadiums. It is just not the same.

The enthusiasm and excitement crowds bring is just special...I do not have words for it.

For Tim, when he finished his race, he heard cheers. He heard the roar of angels and stampede of friends/family/saints of old cheering him on!

Well done! Well done! You made it!

What a glorious God we serve. He shows us a glimpse of heaven and images to help us understand just a teensy bit of what our loved ones are experiencing.

It is all worth it friends.

All the pain.

All the suffering.

All the trials and tests.

All the ridicule from backslidden family members.

All the tears poured out over special needs children.

All the pain from divorce.

All the stomach aches from fasting...

All the times you stayed up all night praying...

All the headaches from crying...

All the "Why God?" questions...

It will be worth it.

HE IS WORTH IT.

HE IS WORTHY!

Worthy is the lamb!

Pain- Friend or Acquaintance

 I shared with her while she was grieving and...weeping...

"I understand a little bit about pain." It's like "pain is my friend."

"No" she said. "Pain is not your friend."

She was correct. I misspoke. What I meant to say was that pain was "familiar."

I have been thinking about this and pondering the concept of being familiar with pain.

I do not want to walk around like a forever wounded person.

I am free.

I am more than a conqueror in Christ.

However, I do still live every day with the reality of raising a special needs child. 

A child who now wears a 9.5 in Mens shoes. 

A child who cannot clearly state his address or phone number or say his birthdate.

Yes, autism is painful. Autism is familiar and therefore pain is familiar.

I do not want to "stay" in pain/survival mode.

For those of you who know me, you know I am a joyful person. I am not painful to be around (I hope not)

I love Jesus and want to exude His joy, His love, share His Word, His light and encourage others to "keep on keeping on."

I do not want pain to be my friend.

A dear sister in Christ shared with me that she has been waking up at night filled with anxiety.

She says it is because she feels like she must "anticipate" the next bad, or hard or challenging thing that will afflict her life next.

Another sister said she is always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

When you get used to pain, when there is relief for a minute, your brain might sense you are living "in between" trials so to speak. You have your foot hovering over the brake...

This is not healthy which is why I want to expose this...

Isaac has been in a really beautiful season.

He is happy to be back at school. He has not had aggressive behaviors in a long time. He takes his medications every morning and afternoon. He even made a friend at school. No seizures since Nov 29 2020. 

So much to be thankful for!

I am not waiting for the shoe to drop.

I am thankful...I don't wake up anxious. 

Anxiety has not been a problem for me.

My problem is pain.

When others hurt, I hurt.

When others grieve, I grieve.

When others need prayer, I go to battle.

When God calls me to intercede in the middle of the night, I pray "pretending to be asleep" I quietly pray as the LORD leads me.

Sometimes waves of grief sweep over me. 

For example, next month is Valentine's day, the "love month." Now as Christians we know love is Jesus. Jesus is love personified. But for me, I start praying for all the widows who will have their first "husband-less" Valentine's day. To some it may seem superficial, but if you had a spouse who spoiled you on this day and made sure to tell you he loved you with flowers, a card and a lovely dinner, then the day is a big stab in the heart. The LORD prompts my prayers for widows.

How about the "1 year markers." 

Feb 19, 2022 marks one year since my beloved sister in Christ Victoria went home to be with Jesus. I ache and pray for her family often. 

I read an article about a family that was hit by a drunk driver. Three yes THREE siblings all died in the car accident. The mother was in the car too and was rushed to the hospital to fight for her life and did not yet know that her 3 youngest children all passed away. I read this article and cried and asked God to carry this family.

The LORD reminds me that I am a chaplain. No I am not an official chaplain. But I run into these situations and pray and sit and love on people who need Jesus...

The LORD reminded me that HE was familiar with pain.

That He knows and understands pain too.

We are not promised a "pain free" life we are promised He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Have you ever heard a mom say "giving birth was a breeze. It was pain free!"

Absolutely not!

Labor is painful- BUT WORTH IT.

Jesus is worth it.

God reminded me that pain IS NOT my friend. Pain is not my enemy either. 

Pain is an "acquaintance."

An acquaintance is "a person's knowledge or experience of something. Also, a person one knows slightly but who is not a close friend.

BING!

Light bulb!

Isaiah 53:3 says: "He is despised and rejected by men. A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him." (NKJV)

The NLT reads: 

He was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care.

One version says "He is despised" the other reads "He was despised." This is interesting.

Is Jesus despised today? Yes. Was Jesus despised then? Yes. 

Jesus knows how we feel and He too feels our pain.

Pain is NOT my friend.

Pain is NOT your friend either. 

Pain is an acquaintance. Perhaps our lives are touched by pain so that we can empathize with others. So we can weep with others and rejoice with others.

Pain also heightens gratitude. 

I have a friend who struggled with infertility.

When she got pregnant after years of trying I was so overjoyed I felt like I could burst!

I am excited any time someone is pregnant but this one was different. This friend had years filled with pain. She had many "no's" before she got her "yes."

Pain teaches us how to lean on Jesus and how to be thankful for each gift. 

Warren Wiersbe says that pain and suffering can make us bitter. However, if we choose to make pain our "servant" instead of our master, then we see how Romans 8:28, Gen 50:20 and 2 Cor 1:4 are literally lived out in our lives.

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT) reads: 

"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."

We must learn lessons from the painful moments and seasons and hide them in our hearts. Then at just the right moment, God will give us an assignment. It's as if we go through the pain, only to be the catalyst to ministry later.
God is prompting our hearts "I now want YOU to share! Share the verses, the treasures, the tools, the memorial stones YOU gathered from your pain-filled journey to encourage another." 

Pain is never wasted!

What a friend we have in Jesus! When we go through pain He weeps with us, lays His hand on our shoulder and says "I am holding your tears in a bottle." "I am near to the broken hearted." "I will restore the joy of your salvation" and truly "blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted."

Jesus was acquainted with pain and He had deep compassion and He implants this gift in us too. 

Let's worship Him and be thankful for heaven where there are no more tears--- only endless praise!

Maranatha!