What portions of scripture will they recall, and giggle about - when they discover that they loved many of the same passages of scripture? How empathetic will the "amen" be when they confess that they also turned to the same verses as the other - when they walked through their shadowy-valleys?
How different is her world now - seperated from us for only 34 minutes - but now with HIM for eternity?
How good will the feast taste when they sit tonight? How strong will their voices ring out - when the choir sings praises tonight, tomorrow, and the day after?
Who these women were - in their final days - looked very little like anyone, any one of us recognized. Yet when their bodies are restored and whole, even then, how much better they will appear than in their best days here!
If life is a marathon, then they are the winners - going the harder, longer distance - and doing it in shorter time.
I can hear my Lovely Bride's mom asking mine about the gardens, and I can envision mine explaining to her that though she's been there since '87 - she really has yet to see very much of the totality of what there is to see.
"What about the one's left behind," Celeste may ask Sharon.
"The ones who know the ONE we love - they will be fine, and soon we will see them."
"And what about that ONE?"
"He is here, tonight we will sit at His feet, learn from Him, honor and glorify Him, and feel His pleasure in our company with Him".
The colors will be brighter. The roses will smell sweeter. They will laugh.
They may even cry...
Cry for those who rejected the ONE they love, and perhaps fear the idea of not being with them again. But these fears last not long.
They never can...
For that which they sought their entire life to find...
That which they felt they never would know...
That which they doubted if it could even be conceived...has come.
THEY HAVE FOUND...
THEIR...
PURPOSE!!!
And now - without the burden of pain, sin, hurt, or heartache - they Glorify the ONE who made them. They wait for those of us who have yet to make the journey through faith in Jesus Christ. And they ENJOY the newness of life they merely had glimpses of in their old place of dwelling.
Mom is home, she speaks, she walks, she runs, shouts, loves, and laughs! She is with the ONE who loves her most, and they exalt and rejoice in Him - now and forever.
Can you see it...?
DON'T YOU WANT TOO?
For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His ONLY Son, that whosoever believes in HIM, SHALL NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVER, LASTING...LIFE!
