Our Brother Went Home

Our brother went home today. He's with the Father in a much better place than he was on this earth. He's not suffering or anxious or hurting. He's whole and well and experiencing God in a very real way.

We prayed for Paul. We prayed fervently for him to get well. What are we to think now that he did not get well? Where do we go from here? Were our prayers worth it? Does it seem like we wasted our time? Why did God allow this? Why did Paul suffer so much? And now, what about Judy? How could God allow her to go through this and now wind up alone?

I have to tell you that I am hard-pressed to answer those questions. It's OK to have them.

I am directed towards those verses in Isaiah 55:

⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Though they may not be comforting to the extent that they answer all the questions I just posed, these verses give us insight into how we, as people who trust God, should see events such as this.

We have to come to grips with the fact that we aren't always going to have the answers. It's a matter of trust. Do we trust God enough? Are we going to accept that His ways are higher than ours?

Here's how I see times like these. It's not up to us to necessarily come up with all the answers of why did this or that happen. Now is the time for us to rally around Judy and support her and help her as a family, as her family. And by doing this, we show the rest of the world what the love of God really means.

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

That's how I see it.

Maybe you feel differently and that's OK. If you want to discuss it, leave a comment!

God bless you.