Reality Check
I went through a season where it was the first thing that came to my mind as I awoke each morning.
Waking up with that reality in my mind changed the way I saw my day. It changed the way I saw my trials, my difficulties. It changed how I treated my children and my husband. It changed how I saw other people, performed my duties, did my job, and cleaned my house. And, it changed how I prayed.
Something has shaken me up this week like a cold glass of water on a sleepy face. On two different days, I 'happened' to stumble across videos of people telling their story of how they died, and in their lasts breaths cried out to Jesus to save them. As they entered eternity, they fell quickly into a dark tunnel into what they call hell. It was a place of pure fear, torture, screaming, crying, darkness, despair, burning...indescribable really. Then, God's merciful hand swept down and scooped them out -- bringing them up through heaven and then back to their bodies. He had heard their cry for forgiveness in their last breaths.
This gospel we believe is no fairytale. It is not false. It is not a lie. It as real as real can be. And, even if we don't believe it, it doesn't make it any less real. Eternity exists. Heaven exists. Hell exists.
Something that one woman said in her testimony was that in this place of great suffering, there was a mutual, overwhelming sense of regret in the souls there. It was too late for them to repent. Too late for them to believe. Too late... too late.
But, it is not too late for us. It is not too late for you.
If you are reading this right now and have not yet said to Jesus with your own lips and meant it in your heart, "Forgive me, Jesus. Be my Savior. I believe in you and want to live for you here on earth and with you in heaven. I don't want to assume that I am just going to heaven based on my own good works because no good work is going to get me into heaven -- only my faith in you and what you did on the cross."
Let me tell you... this prayer is more important than anything you will ever decide here on earth about your life. It is more important than your decision of who you will marry, what you will do 'when you grow up' -- more important than anything.
Eternity is long.
"This is absolutely Real and one day, I'm going to meet Jesus."
was the thought.
Waking up with that reality in my mind changed the way I saw my day. It changed the way I saw my trials, my difficulties. It changed how I treated my children and my husband. It changed how I saw other people, performed my duties, did my job, and cleaned my house. And, it changed how I prayed.
Something has shaken me up this week like a cold glass of water on a sleepy face. On two different days, I 'happened' to stumble across videos of people telling their story of how they died, and in their lasts breaths cried out to Jesus to save them. As they entered eternity, they fell quickly into a dark tunnel into what they call hell. It was a place of pure fear, torture, screaming, crying, darkness, despair, burning...indescribable really. Then, God's merciful hand swept down and scooped them out -- bringing them up through heaven and then back to their bodies. He had heard their cry for forgiveness in their last breaths.
This gospel we believe is no fairytale. It is not false. It is not a lie. It as real as real can be. And, even if we don't believe it, it doesn't make it any less real. Eternity exists. Heaven exists. Hell exists.
Something that one woman said in her testimony was that in this place of great suffering, there was a mutual, overwhelming sense of regret in the souls there. It was too late for them to repent. Too late for them to believe. Too late... too late.
But, it is not too late for us. It is not too late for you.
If you are reading this right now and have not yet said to Jesus with your own lips and meant it in your heart, "Forgive me, Jesus. Be my Savior. I believe in you and want to live for you here on earth and with you in heaven. I don't want to assume that I am just going to heaven based on my own good works because no good work is going to get me into heaven -- only my faith in you and what you did on the cross."
Let me tell you... this prayer is more important than anything you will ever decide here on earth about your life. It is more important than your decision of who you will marry, what you will do 'when you grow up' -- more important than anything.
Eternity is long.
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