Pause: Getting Ready for His Coming

Photo courtesy of Katie LeBlanc

Our brother *Francis*, whom we haven't seen in two and a half years, is coming for a visit in the beginning of August. There has been a lot of preparation going on; indeed, the thought seems to have had a mobilizing power upon everyone here. We want everything to be as nice as possible for him.

Z. has cleaned the book room more in the past few weeks than she ever has in the rest of the two years we've been here. Dad is building what he terms a "simple bed"--it's not simple by any means--for Francis so he doesn't have to sleep on the sneeze-inducing couch. Dad was working on it quite a bit to begin with, but since he found out the day Francis is coming, he has been even busier. Mom is helping wherever she can. And I have realized that I need to overcome some bad habits before the end of July.

The hustle and bustle for my brother's coming made me think of something else, something we all should be preparing for. Whether we like it or not, our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, is coming soon. The signs are all around us--natural disasters, increasing moral degeneration, and so on. Prophecy is rapidly being fulfilled. Soon, all the evil and suffering will be no more. All will be peace and rest and indescribable glory. Don't you want to experience that?

Jesus wants you to. He wants "all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). He wants all of us to be ready for His return! The only way we will not be, then, is if we refuse to let Him make us fit for the heavenly home. He is more willing to save us than we are to let Him, but He lets us decide our destiny. In light of God's love for you, and the times in which we are living, ask Him to forgive you for wasting so much time with sin; ask Him to come into your heart and change it completely, so that you will be ready to meet Him when He comes again. Read the Bible prayerfully, so that you can know the way to heaven. He will not turn you away. If we do our part, we may be sure that He will do His. He says, "For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee" (Isaiah 41:13). "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye" (Psalm 32:8).

What do you say? Won't you get ready for His coming?

Blessings,
Jean

Another Pause: A Blessing in Disguise

Courtesy of Katie LeBlanc

Most days, my physical condition doesn't aggravate me; but some days, it really bothers me. Some days I wish I could be like everyone else. I wouldn't need help virtually all the time. I wouldn't be so tired. It would be so much easier to drink more water. The list could get bigger and bigger if I thought about it long enough.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). As one that has cerebral palsy, I naturally think about physical running, physical walking. However, I believe there is a spiritual side to this verse.

God told Abraham, "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). He didn't mean an actual walking before, for Abraham couldn't always see Him; He meant for Abraham to follow Him in everything. Jesus admonished the people to walk while they had the light (John 12:35), and Paul spoke of walking worthy of our vocation as Christians (Ephesians 4:1). The apostle also speaks of running. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of [our ]faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2). He wasn't referring to a temporal race, but a spiritual race, which, if won, would give us an incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).

With that said, I believe that what the Lord told Isaiah was a promise that if we wait upon Him, we shall renew our strength for this great feat; we will run the race to heaven, "and not be weary"; we will be able to walk in the light He gives us, "and not faint." Oh, what a beautiful thought!

I read this verse today also: "[Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). Paul is saying here that we aren't to be jealous of others, but content with what we have, because Jesus has promised never to leave us. In other words, He is all we need. His presence satisfies. I thought to myself yet again, Is it possible that if I never had or didn't have the CP, that I wouldn't see the need for Jesus? That I wouldn't care for heavenly things? Considering my temperament and the things with which I struggle personally, and the tendency of human nature to not care for things of a heavenly nature, that is quite probable. Perhaps God in His mercy has kept the privilege of walking from me even to now, that I might learn to walk the path to the heavenly kingdom. After all, that is worth more than one hundred years worth of ambulation on this earth.

I'm reminded once more that CP is a blessing in disguise.

Sincerely,
Jean