Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Yesterday, my father-in-law lost, in the world’s view, his battle with cancer; but won, in the godly view, against the sting of death. For when he surrendered his life to Jesus … his earthly life was but a formality. Though his shell was frail and not the man he once was, his mind was set on brighter and better things. The enemy was not happy that he lost this one. For eighty-six years, the enemy was content with his placement in his ranks, then … one day … even after being contemptuous about the idea of Jesus … dad said yes.
After that faithful and fateful day, the enemy was on the war path. He had to find a way … a loophole … a deception of any kind … he wanted that soul back. Though he was failing in health prior, it had not progressed. Seemingly, after dad’s voice of confession and baptism … he found the ugly slope to death. I know, in my heart, that he was scared … he had not believed long enough to understand the beauty that awaited him and the enemy was fervently seeking him to renounce this newfound faith. What the enemy found was the same stubborn old man who met me on his son’s porch and raised his voice to me when I asked him if he believed in Jesus. Just now, that stubborn old man was on the righteous side of death.
Today will be difficult as we meet with the funeral home director and make the necessary arrangements. Then will come the days after. Our lives, especially in the last month, have been 150 percent consumed with tending to dad’s needs and safety…that need is gone now. Life continues. To be honest, though I rejoiced at his baptism, I was fearful that he had just gotten wet … until just last week … when my husband had told me about a conversation that he had had with the preacher who baptized him. It was much like a conversation I had with my own father. I know, without a doubt, that Harold Ratliff is sitting in heaven right now … pain free and reunited with his wife.
Death is a tactic used by the enemy to hold us down. It is portrayed as a dark and evil place. Where this is true if you do not believe, if you have surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, death is just that … death … just another path laid out for you. Just a different journey … and the journey of death … when you know you are going to heaven … it is not scary at all … for you. As one who is not afraid of dying, my fear comes in the form of my family … especially my children, because no mother wants to leave her children … however, that is a control issue with me … not my children. Death has no power … as long as we do not allow it to have. Death is just one chapter closing and another one opening up.
Please cover my family in prayers for peace and comfort as we tend to the final formalities of this life for him.
Be blessed today my friends.
***There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,4
Yesterday, my father-in-law lost, in the world’s view, his battle with cancer; but won, in the godly view, against the sting of death. For when he surrendered his life to Jesus … his earthly life was but a formality. Though his shell was frail and not the man he once was, his mind was set on brighter and better things. The enemy was not happy that he lost this one. For eighty-six years, the enemy was content with his placement in his ranks, then … one day … even after being contemptuous about the idea of Jesus … dad said yes.
After that faithful and fateful day, the enemy was on the war path. He had to find a way … a loophole … a deception of any kind … he wanted that soul back. Though he was failing in health prior, it had not progressed. Seemingly, after dad’s voice of confession and baptism … he found the ugly slope to death. I know, in my heart, that he was scared … he had not believed long enough to understand the beauty that awaited him and the enemy was fervently seeking him to renounce this newfound faith. What the enemy found was the same stubborn old man who met me on his son’s porch and raised his voice to me when I asked him if he believed in Jesus. Just now, that stubborn old man was on the righteous side of death.
Today will be difficult as we meet with the funeral home director and make the necessary arrangements. Then will come the days after. Our lives, especially in the last month, have been 150 percent consumed with tending to dad’s needs and safety…that need is gone now. Life continues. To be honest, though I rejoiced at his baptism, I was fearful that he had just gotten wet … until just last week … when my husband had told me about a conversation that he had had with the preacher who baptized him. It was much like a conversation I had with my own father. I know, without a doubt, that Harold Ratliff is sitting in heaven right now … pain free and reunited with his wife.
Death is a tactic used by the enemy to hold us down. It is portrayed as a dark and evil place. Where this is true if you do not believe, if you have surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, death is just that … death … just another path laid out for you. Just a different journey … and the journey of death … when you know you are going to heaven … it is not scary at all … for you. As one who is not afraid of dying, my fear comes in the form of my family … especially my children, because no mother wants to leave her children … however, that is a control issue with me … not my children. Death has no power … as long as we do not allow it to have. Death is just one chapter closing and another one opening up.
Please cover my family in prayers for peace and comfort as we tend to the final formalities of this life for him.
Be blessed today my friends.
***There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,4
Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Yesterday, my father-in-law lost, in the world’s view, his battle with cancer; but won, in the godly view, against the sting of death. For when he surrendered his life to Jesus … his earthly life was but a formality. Though his shell was frail and not the man he once was, his mind was set on brighter and better things. The enemy was not happy that he lost this one. For eighty-six years, the enemy was content with his placement in his ranks, then … one day … even after being contemptuous about the idea of Jesus … dad said yes.
After that faithful and fateful day, the enemy was on the war path. He had to find a way … a loophole … a deception of any kind … he wanted that soul back. Though he was failing in health prior, it had not progressed. Seemingly, after dad’s voice of confession and baptism … he found the ugly slope to death. I know, in my heart, that he was scared … he had not believed long enough to understand the beauty that awaited him and the enemy was fervently seeking him to renounce this newfound faith. What the enemy found was the same stubborn old man who met me on his son’s porch and raised his voice to me when I asked him if he believed in Jesus. Just now, that stubborn old man was on the righteous side of death.
Today will be difficult as we meet with the funeral home director and make the necessary arrangements. Then will come the days after. Our lives, especially in the last month, have been 150 percent consumed with tending to dad’s needs and safety…that need is gone now. Life continues. To be honest, though I rejoiced at his baptism, I was fearful that he had just gotten wet … until just last week … when my husband had told me about a conversation that he had had with the preacher who baptized him. It was much like a conversation I had with my own father. I know, without a doubt, that Harold Ratliff is sitting in heaven right now … pain free and reunited with his wife.
Death is a tactic used by the enemy to hold us down. It is portrayed as a dark and evil place. Where this is true if you do not believe, if you have surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, death is just that … death … just another path laid out for you. Just a different journey … and the journey of death … when you know you are going to heaven … it is not scary at all … for you. As one who is not afraid of dying, my fear comes in the form of my family … especially my children, because no mother wants to leave her children … however, that is a control issue with me … not my children. Death has no power … as long as we do not allow it to have. Death is just one chapter closing and another one opening up.
Please cover my family in prayers for peace and comfort as we tend to the final formalities of this life for him.
Be blessed today my friends.
***There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2,4
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