Hello dear friends!First of all, I want to thank you so much for all of your prayers, cards, phone calls, love and support when my grandpa passed away. My family has felt very blessed indeed. Grandpa was a wonderful man who will be missed by many. We were so surprised by how many people came to the visitation and funeral. What a blessing to have that support and to hear the stories as we remember grandpa together. Grandpa was quite mischievous and loved teasing people and playing jokes. That is something that he passed along to my dad and on to me. My grandpa, dad and I were all cut from the same cloth! I think I better get married and have some kids so I can pass along this wonderful mischievous streak!
It has been a hard couple of weeks, but it has also been good. I know I've talked to some of you about this already, but I wanted to share about those last days. We spent them with grandpa in the nursing home. The night he passed away my parents, brother, uncle, grandma and I were all able to be there. When I was rushing back to the nursing home because the end was near I had second thoughts. Did I really want to go back there and watch my grandpa die? I had never seen anyone die before. But I wanted to be there. For myself, to say goodbye and for my grandma, to support her. He went peacefully and after the tears I looked over and I was amazed at what I saw. You see, I know that when a person passes away their soul is gone. It's just a body left. What I didn't know is that I would be able to see that so clearly. When I looked at grandpa after he died, it wasn't grandpa. It was just a body laying there. I could physically see that his spirit was gone. That really hit me. Right then and there, I praised the Lord that grandpa was in heaven. Grandpa knew Jesus and loved Him. He was ready to go and he went peacefully. He didn't have to fight death because he was going to a better place.
So this is my question for you. Do you know Jesus? I don't mean just know who He is and believe that He existed. As it says in James 2:19, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." What I mean is do you love Jesus? Have you placed your faith in God, asked Him to forgive you of your sins and are you following Him? Do you love Him? If so I rejoice with you and I'll introduce you to Marlowe Siler from Downsville someday! If you don't, I plead with you to get right with your Maker. Death is a part of life. It can be a beautiful part of life or it can be tragic. I know I might offend some people here, but truth is truth and it must be shared. If you do not have a relationship with God when your day comes and your spirit leaves this world you will go to hell. A place of torment and eternal separation from God. I do not want ANY of you to go there. I want to be reunited with you again someday. The truth of the matter is we will all spend eternity somewhere...forever...it will never end. I want you to spend forever with me and God, not in hell. There is nothing you can do to make God not love you and accept you if you turn to Him...NOTHING. He sent His Son to die for you and it is up to you to accept that or reject Him. Your sins are already covered, but you have to accept that covering. Please friends, don't leave this decision to another day because we don't know how long we will be here. Life is short and death is a part of life. Make it a good thing, something to look forward to, not to fear.
On to a lighter topic...this Saturday, November 21 from 9am until 2pm you are invited to a Craft Fair at the Alliance Church of Menomonie. I will be selling some prints and cards there and if you live close I'd love to see you there. There will be lots of crafts and goodies so come on out and get some Christmas shopping done! This is the first time I am going to try selling my photography so we'll see if anyone buys it!
One last prayer request...my grandma (mom's mom) is in the hospital. She has been having a hard time breathing and has been very weak. I visited her at home earlier today, but after her lips started turning blue grandpa took her into the doctor and they admitted her. They have her hooked up on oxygen and hopefully that will help her breathe easier and get her strength back so she can go home. I know she would appreciate the prayers and I do too!
Thank you for the prayers and the continued prayer. It means more to me than I can ever explain to you! Blessings on you and yours. I hope you have a marvelous Thanksgiving. I know that I am thankful for so much this year. Even in the hard times, there are so many things to be thankful for and ways that I've seen the Lord work. Thank you God!
