Learning to Long for Heaven

My church is hosting two funerals this week. One, a lady in her sixties, had battled cancer for several years. Though I sorrow over this loss, I am so thankful to know that she is no longer in pain and that she is with her Lord and Saviour for eternity. What a joy and comfort to know that this sweet godly lady can no longer be touched by the disease that changed her life so much in the last years.

The other funeral, however, is for a young mother, who unexpectedly went to be with the Lord shortly after giving birth to her fifth child. I just ache for her family – a husband with five children ranging from early teens to newborn. Ever since I heard the news of her death this past week I have been struggling – not to trust that God is good and that He truly does work all things together for good, but to have any understanding of why God would take her now.

I wonder if one of the lessons God teaches us in a loss like this – the death of a young mother at the peak of ministry; sweet, vibrant, beautiful – is longing for heaven. I am joyful and thankful at the homegoing of a Christian who has suffered long illness – no more pain, no more suffering, no more fear. But is release from life’s struggles the only reason to long for heaven? I act as if when God takes someone young and full of life that there is no reason to be joyful. She had so much good in this life; why would God take her now? It’s almost as if I think that a good life here is at least as good as heaven itself.

But there is a God in heaven who does all things well – and she is with Him now! No, perhaps she was not released from a specific hardship in this life, but are not the joys of heaven so far above the joys of earth that they would make earthly joys disappear in comparison? If I cannot find joy in the homegoing of any saint, then I do not value my God and His presence enough. Nothing in this life is permanent; this world is not our home. Any believer leaving the Shadowlands can say with exquisite joy, “the dream is ended: this is the morning.” And when life is done, we can “at least [begin] Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."1

1C.S. Lewis.  The Last Battle.  228.

Wedding Pictures!!!!

Here they are.  :)

Prayer Request: Job Situation

Well, I was laid off from my job on Tuesday morning. This was completely unexpected, and as my Robert's job ended just last week, we are both without income at this point. Thankfully we have some money saved up for our wedding, May 16th, which is just 22 days away now. So we'll cut back as much as we can on wedding stuff and save anything else we can for the honeymoon and for living expenses afterwards.

Please pray that I can find a permanent job (2+ years) that will pay well. We already signed a 13-month lease on a somewhat nice apartment, and we'd like to stay there if possible. But that means minimum wage won't work.

Please also pray that Robert can find a good summer job; he has a job for a schoolyear, but nothing for the summer at this point.

If you have recommendations for places to look (my primary experience is call center work/basic IT helpdesk, but I've also worked as a receptionist, HR representative, tax preparer, and general office help), please leave a comment.  I'm also looking for something temporary for the next couple of weeks before the wedding-- if you're in the upstate of SC and have a project you need done in your office, please let me know.  I can organize just about anything, and I don't mind data entry or stuffing envelopes.

funny :)

wedding registries

For those who are interested, here are links to our wedding registries.  Please do not feel obligated to buy us a gift; this is merely information for those who want to know what we'd like.  :o)

Target

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Pampered Chef

Amazon.com

We don't mind gently used items.  If you have an item that we've requested and you wouldn't mind getting rid of it, please feel free to give that instead of a store bought gift. 

A couple of other notes:  my mom purchased an almost-complete set of Lenox Temperware Fancy Free dishes at a thrift shop for me.  They are in great condition; anything gently used would work nicely with them. To complete the set, I need:

7 cereal bowls
1 dinner plate
2 cups

We're also hoping to find the following pieces of furniture, listed from most needed to just "nice to have":

- table and chair set.  Four to six chairs would be perfect.  We bought two solid dark wook 24" chairs a few weeks ago, so a tall table and two more 24" tall chairs would work great too.
- bookshelves.  We're going to need several... preferably 2 or 3 tall sets to save space, and perhaps one or two shorter ones for bedroom and/or living room.
- a pantry of some sort, as most apartments don't have even a tiny closet anywhere near the kitchen.
- a kitchen island thingy on wheels.  Something like this, but hopefully not that expensive.