Tag: Eternity

He’s Really Living!
Christian Life · death · Eternity

He’s Really Living!

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When I was a teenager, I had an aunt and an uncle that reached out to invest in my life. The summer I was 16, they invited me to come spend a couple weeks with them in their Michigan home. I took my first flight by myself and headed off for an adventure!

They had young children at the time and I joined into their family routine during my stay. I remember watching them love their son and daughter, teach them about the Lord, take them to church and just spend time with them. They also spent time with me. We went swimming, out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and played games. They also went on a date while I was there and they trusted me to watch my younger cousins for the evening. When we were in their church services I loved singing the alto part along with my Aunt Jan as the congregation sang together. My aunt talked to me and really listened. She was interested in me and let me know so.

That visit was really just the beginning of them pouring into me. It was because of them that I visited a Christian college where I would eventually attend. They came to my wedding, and also kept up with my life and invested in me many times over in my adult years, always letting me know that they cared. We weren’t in constant contact, but often enough that I was well aware of their love and support.

Two years ago my sweet Aunt Jan entered the presence of the Lord. Before she died, she called to tell me she loved me and she would see me in heaven. How precious that phone call was to me! Her daughter had passed a couple years before her, and I imagined the sweetness of their reunion in the presence of Christ. I got to see my aunt on her death bed and she was ready to meet the Lord. Her body was tired and so weak, and she knew she would soon be getting a glorified one! As she spoke to me about leaving her husband, my Uncle Jim, she said, “I just hope he doesn’t sit around and mope after I’m gone. I want him to go on living.” I’ve prayed for him many times since her passing, asking the Lord to help him do just that.

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Eternity

Why Would a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?

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Listen to this post on Refresh Her podcast.

“If God is a loving God, why would He send anyone to hell? That sounds pretty UNloving to me!”

Have you ever heard someone ask this question? Perhaps you have had this thought pass through your own mind. It may seem like a complicated question, but when we open the Bible we can find some clear cut answers.

Let’s get the truth on this matter, and let’s start with the one who is behind this accusation. This whole question is a deception from Satan. As we read about him in the Bible we learn…

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You’re Preaching Your Own Funeral
death · Eternity

You’re Preaching Your Own Funeral

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Seasons of loss bring reflection and contemplation in the solitary moments of your own grief. It boils all the complexities of life down to the very rudiments of our existence. To pass through this valley without it is to waste a very precious time of learning and growth.

As I attended the funeral of my dear father this week, I heard these words spoken about my dad…

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Eternity · Fear · trust

The Choice That Matters Most

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A quick glance at today’s headlines are more discouraging than the wrinkles that reflect in my mirror. With daily reports of violence, inflation, deadly storms and a global pandemic, a person could look around them frantically for a means to protect themselves.

  • A concealed weapon
  • A hidden nest egg
  • A storm shelter
  • Masks and vaccines
    These may all give a person a certain level of security, but we all have to realize that our ultimate protection isn’t from any of those man-made methods, but it is from our sovereign God. The psalmist put it this way…

Horses and chariots are man’s means, and they can help, but how wise to trust even more in the name of the Lord!

Author Johanna Weaver put it this way –

If God isn’t bigger than my life, then my life is bigger than God and that’s when anxiety takes over.

But let’s go a little deeper in this subject of trust. Are we so foolish that we put our absolute trust in any of those methods of protection, but NOT put our faith and trust in the God of this universe?

All around us there are men and women who will accept the plans of people with their whole heart, but then shake their fist in the face of God as they mock Him and deny His very existence. They have turned their back on God’s plan of salvation through the shed blood of Christ. They reject the God Who gave them life, and the gift of His Son Who died to give them eternal life.

Some trust in horses and some in chariots.
Horses die.
Chariots fall apart.
Our resources crumble.
But when you remember the name of the Lord our God and depend on Him for the one thing that matters most – your eternity – then you have a sure and solid protection for both these difficult days and eternity!

What are the “horses” and “chariots” that you are trusting? Are you keeping your faith more in the eternal God or the short-lived fixes? This is Satan’s tactic – to get us so focused on the temporary that we neglect the eternal.

To choose Christ is true wisdom. To reject Him is more foolish than anyone you may point at that isn’t using the temporal protection of your choice. It’s so easy to get upside down in what we value most. We can be wise in making good choices for our earthly protection, and totally miss what is truly important. Friend, be sure of eternity. Jesus is the choice that matters most.

Easter · Eternity · Jesus Changed My Life

When Everything Else Is Stripped Away At Easter

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Easter plans have changed this year.

Easter services are different than we would ever have imagined.

Easter traditions have been put aside.

But when everything else is stripped away, there is one thing that remains securely in tact and that is the reason why we celebrate Easter. 

It’s Jesus.  It’s His resurrection from the dead; the fact that He lives!

For me personally, you can hear in this video what I still have today on this Easter, even though everything else has been stripped away.

Thank you for listening to my story.  It’s the truth that makes me put my feet on the floor each morning.  It’s what gives me hope when everything around me seems hopeless.  It’s what energizes my speech and motivates my life.

If you have never received Jesus and seen what a change He can make, I am extending His invitation to you to come to Him today.  Don’t delay.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

There’s nothing you need to do first. He will fix the broken parts of you after He is your Savior. You don’t need to be better or try harder because Jesus did all the work for your salvation on the cross.

We won’t have beautiful church services, egg hunts, or family gatherings this year, but we still have Jesus, and He is all we need.

Happy Easter, my friends!

denise a