Passing into Eternity

When a loved one dies, the grief is all consuming, often tormenting, and somewhat sated after acceptance reached through exhaustion. In my experiences with death, I find that much of my emotion is due in part because of my faith. When a believer dies, comfort can be found through hope because we know we'll see our loved one again.

When we are unsure as to whether a person was saved, we wonder, and stress follows because even though that person chose to go through life without accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they're in a despondent place, no matter how good they were, and their destiny can never be changed and they will be separated from God for all eternity. Who can dare to hope in such a circumstance? That's when despair pays a visit and stays longer than her initial welcome. In such a situation, escaping hopelessness seems futile, because we do love and who would want anyone they love to be in hell?

Hell…A place without God, devoid of peace, and a location where we will have no hope of being with our loved ones ever again, and a consciousness where all our memories are unbroken, forever.

Sometimes when we ask why God didn't save someone we loved, we have to ask ourselves, save them from what? We may have prayed:

"God, I want him to live and to have a full life. I want him to be safe and happy. Please, save him…"

You know what? God hears our prayers and in many cases He answers "yes" to all of them, and took our loved one to the only place that God knew would fulfill all of those needs; Home, to Heaven. It is faith in Jesus that will enable us to see our loved ones again because they are alive and well.

God says that our days are numbered, and to Him our deaths are not a shock because we do not die one minute before we're supposed to, and one day, sooner, rather than later, we will meet eternity's calling, but while those who have gone before us have already reached their destiny, we still have a choice of where our objective will be. All it requires is a choice made with an open heart…

…One made for Jesus, the creator of all who died so that we might live, or a choice to walk in despair without end.

I don't know about you, but I know I could never earn my way into Heaven, which is why I accepted God's gift, and I'd be lost without it.