2009!  Wow!  Another year has come and gone.  We're getting closer to our eternal home of glory!  I don't know about you, but that excites me!  Yes, I am enjoying my life here on this earth and working every day to do what God has called me to do in this process of His will being done here on earth as it is in heaven.  But the prize that I am ultimately working towards is laid out before me.  Philippians 3:14 says, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  The Prize.....My Heavenly Home," where I will sit beside Jesus and lay my crown out before the Lord and bask in the warmth of His presence and light.  Revelation 21:23 "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine  on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp."

 

Ever try to imagine what heaven will be like?  When I try, my brain goes into "brain freeze".  I just can't seem to get to that place in my brain of golden streets, no tears, no sorrow, no hunger, no thirst, no suffering, no pain.....being in the presence of God for eternity!  Everything GOOD!  Revelation 21:3-4 says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.  They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 

 

I just can't relate to that.  That certainly isn't what I have experienced in my life and I'm sure you haven't either.  Working with American Indians has been so heart breaking for me.  There is so much sadness, it is almost incomprehensible.  Death stalks the reservation daily.  Dysfunction is the norm.  Evil is pervasive.  Sometimes I just sit and cry over all the hurt and hopelessness that I have seen.  And then Satan tells me that what I've seen is just the tip of the iceberg.  That pain, hurt and hopelessness is not just on Indian Reservations, it's all over the world.  He tells me to forget it.....give it up.....I'll never make a difference.....the picture is too big for me to handle.

 

And then I get mad!  Satan is such a liar!  John 8:42-47 says, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies."  While Satan is telling me all his lies, God immediately floods me with remembrances of His faithfulness.....faithfulness through all the "God" stories I have heard from my dear Christ Following Indian friends.  Stories of deliverance from drugs, alcohol, thoughts of suicide, prison, the bondage of evil.  Stories of God's provision in the midst of poverty.  Stories of God healing broken hearts and bringing restoration to lives.

 

And He reminds me of His faithfulness in my own life and how He has walked beside me through my own heartaches and sufferings; how he has delivered me from incapacitating fears and made me fearless; how He has taught me "that obedience is better than sacrifice" and that a life of obedience brings incredible peace and joy to my soul; how He "makes me strong when I am weak", and how I am His child.....a child of the King.....it just doesn't get much better than that!

 

So, the next time you think about 2009 and how fast life is going, or the next time you want to be afraid because of all the junk that's happening in the world.....think about heaven.....our eternal hope of glory....where Jesus is waiting on you with open arms and rejoice that it's 2009.....one year closer to Heaven!  To God Be The Glory!