DQ
I'm so sorry
I'm praying for her husband, daughter & friends
Thank God for a good church being 'friends that stick closer than brothers'
There is so much comfort in God's firm promise of 1 Corinthians 15:51-58
51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changedâ€â€
52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[a]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14
The night my dear old dad was suddenly 'promoted to glory' God gave me a vision of him singing God's praises in tune - (he'd been stone deaf!) - lifting a hand, in praise, with a full set of fingers (he'd lost 2 middle fingers trying to fix a motorbike chain in his youth!)
Mum & I played Jamie Owens' classic '70s album, Growing Pains& I said to her, "When you think about that vision - even more @ God's Word - folk who've obviously had several things wrong with them on Earth are a lot more alive 'absent from the body: present with the Lord"
15 years later, when mum was dying painfully of cancer all thru her body, @ age 90, there were many times she'd be asleep when I came in & I'd hear her moan in pain in her sleep
Then she'd wake up, for just a few seconds, unaware I was there, & just say, "O Lord, You're so good!"
Then she'd fall peacefully back to sleep, safe in 'the eternal arms, underneath you & all around you'
It's the kind of experience that turns Christian faith from something maybe vague & weak into Rock Solid faith in the Solid Rock of Christ
"Precious, in the Lord's sight, is the death of His saints"
Jesus & the angels are enjoying your friend's close company
God bless all your church family, who'll all reunite 'on that day'
Ian
