Blessed Assurance

I have the extreme blessing of being able to say that nearly all of my closest family are Christians. I was raised in a Christian home and have the wonderful knowledge that if just about any one of my family members were to pass away, my time apart from them would be only temporary. It is so comforting to have that confidence when facing things like my Grandma's cancer, which we are facing now. While I pray earnestly for her health and healing, I can rest assuredly that if God decides He's in a hurry to have her with Him in Heaven (and I wouldn't blame Him, she's really good company!), that I will see her again. The concept of permanently losing someone closely related to me is hard for me to imagine living with, and yet, I know that it's a burden some people carry everyday.

One of our dearest friends carries that burden. He is the ONLY male in his family who is a believer. He lives everyday knowing that if his dad (his dad!) were in a terrible car accident that day, not only would that end their relationship, but his dad would have entered an ugly eternity. That reality must be so hard to face. This friend is right now facing the eminent death of his grandfather. His unsaved grandfather. The point of this post is not to go into medical details, but he has a heart condition that is worsening daily to the point that he, at best, has months, but likely has weeks or days. I am not writing this post to ask you to pray for his healing. If God miraculously chooses to do that, then that would be wonderful. This gentleman, however, is 93-years-old, and if this doesn't end his life, something else will soon. So I am writing this post to ask you to pray for his salvation. Our friend and his wife are going to visit Grandpa this Saturday and are going to hope that facing the end of his life has ripened his heart for the gospel. I want to help them. I would love to see Heaven's gates stormed on behalf of this gentleman and see a miracle occur. So I'm asking everyone I know to say a prayer Saturday morning (and any other time you feel led to) for Grandpa. I'm not going to use names, because I don't want anyone to feel embarrased by this post, but God knows who you are praying about.

I also want to remind those of you like me, surrounded by a Christian family, that there are so many people out there who are bearing a burden like my friend. We need to be helping them carry that burden. We need to be actively praying for the salvation of anyone close to us, but our heart should be breaking for those with loved ones who don't yet have their names written in The Lambs Book of Life.