Our cross

 

(Luke 14:27) “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” 

 

As a child I loved the idea of a parent returning from their trip abroad, I will confess it was only because I was selfish and knew I would receive some kind of gift from a foreign country that was tucked away in their suitcase, just for me. It was exciting, the wonder of it all. When our beloved Saviour returns He will have something “tucked away” for us all, every faithful believer will receive their reward. In the moment in a twinkling of an eye we shall be changed. The dead will rise first and then those that are alive and well will also be changed and become immortal and receive their eternal bodies. If that hope doesn’t drive us to lay our lives down, I don’t know if anything else ever could.

 

It’s the transition of the mind that needs work in our lives. The way we process the information the Spirit of God feeds us. We often glibly say, "if only I could be more like Jesus", but I don’t see too many of us walking around with hammer in their hands and a pocket full of nails. Are we prepared to be crucified with Christ for the sake of the gospel? None of us need even answer that question, our lives will tell the story. And then once we understand the call of duty, how faithful will we be? And again, our lives will tell the story. But before we dare to land on any assumptions, let us remember, God commissions us to build our relationship with Him in secret. Prayer, tithes, giving to the needy, the list is lengthy. Nevertheless, what one does in secret will be rewarded openly.  

 

Let us not be fooled into believing the lie, there is a cost in serving Jesus, we are all called to lay our lives down for one another. We have been commission to deny ourselves by picking up our cross and mimicking His example. It’s not as if He was ever one of those leaders that cry; “do as I say not as I do”, He led from the front and by example! But it cost him a cruel Roman death, they nailed him to a cross, where he faced the wrath of his Father, for our sin. Do we understand the call? Has our mind been able to process the information correctly, or are we still hanging on by a thread, with one foot in the world, whilst clutching onto the Lord Jesus with one hand? Are we doing our best to milk both worlds, hoping that nothing is about to stretch and finally snap. The sooner we find grace to get out of that mind-set the better. That is a very dangerous place to live. We know that Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and only five of the ten virgin were ready to welcome His arrival. We must learn to "let go and let God…" but we can’t and we won’t if our minds have not yet settled on this truth. We must pray and continually find grace, “not to be conformed to this world” our minds must be “transformed” to follow the footsteps of our Saviour. Then once we realise the intensity of the call, we must understand why we are willing to respond favourably, it’s because WE HAVE A HOPE! One day we will receive our eternal bodies, and we will be numbered amongst the sons of God, hallelujah! The creator of the universe will look us in the eye and address us as son, chew on that, wow! I really look forward to the day where God looks me square in the eye and calls me His son. The blunders I’ve made as a Christian and still I am numbered amongst the saints of God, this is the God I will willingly serve into eternity and beyond. But we must realise that we have already been called to get on with it, even now we must find grace to work it out…

 

Let’s break it down, the Christians hope is eternity with God, with a body that will never age, we will be eternal beings. But before we get there, we need to be tried and tested. Not every enlisted soldier qualified as an instructor. Our training was on a different level. However, we knew that once we had qualified without “tapping out” we would receive our reward. But before the honour we were humiliated. The call to arms for the Christian is no different, in fact it is far harder and it is an impossible task without the grace of God in our lives. Nevertheless, we have access to an unlimited supply of grace, thanks to our beloved Saviour, that door is never locked, praise God!

 

If you believe to Christianity is a “free ride” you have been duped into believing a lie. (Luke 14:28)“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” 

 

Our call is to a petition of struggle as it’s preparing us to depend on the grace of God to get us through this life and into the next, where we will reap our reward. But the question I have for all of us, do we understand this to be true? Has our minds settled on this understanding, or are we still all over the place, is the jury still out? The sooner we settle, the easier it becomes to find the peace of God for our lives and it will “bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

The grace of God...

We are so far removed from the spiritual realm in our daily walks that I am astounded by the grace of God. Not only did He send the darling of heaven, His Son the Lord Jesus. Also known as the WORD of God or the Son of God and part of the God-head to die for the enemies of God. Leaches demanding sustenance for heaven, a world that serves the creature rather than the creator. A people demanding blessings of all sorts but seldom giving thanks to the One that provides the rations. Even the air we breathe is because of God’s goodness. The list is endless and I will let you fill in the blanks…

 

I know how easily my head can be turned, forgive me Father. I am constantly at war with myself and the pressures of life. I so often want to lament, not to other per say, but within, about the trail of life and the constant thwarting of efforts to simply provide for my basic necessities, without having to rely on others, which seems to be a never ending quest. Then God graciously reminds me of the others who have endured far greater hardships. It’s these balancing thoughts that I am truly grateful for, it realigns the minds rudder. This however does not distract from the fact that I would far rather be with the Lord than have to endure these hardships. The Apostle Paul knew his worth in Christ, a man who had already seen heaven. He was in two minds whether to be on earth for the sake of those who needed his input into their lives or to be in heaven with the Lord.

As for me, this is an easy choice, heaven Please! So much energy is spent on prayer for healing the sick or for those on their death beds. It is a no brainer, if the individual is unsaved, sure we pray that they may be healed so that they may be saved. This has to be our priority, if not, we have understood very little. But as for the elect, those whom God has graciously saved, it is far better to be with the Lord. So why do we hang on to this life so tightly? The answer is obvious, we are not as sold out for the Lord as we ort to be… it is far better to be with the Lord in heaven.

 

As for me, if given the choice, Lord please take me home, I’m exhausted. But not my will but thine be done…

 

Who does not want commendation from God, as a child growing up do you remember how you craved you father’s praises? Jehovah God, God the Father gives such praises though the written Word for us to glean from; “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

(Hebrews 11:13-16) – AND “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38)

 

This portion of scripture is the great equalizer, just begin to think that your life is hard and you will soon find out it is but a breeze in compassion to those whom God decided to commend in the Bible, our history book, into the mind of God penned for the ages.

 

So back to my opening statement; "we are so far removed from the spiritual realm in our daily walks that I am astounded by the grace of God." This is why the grace of God overwhelms me, and forgive me Father for my grumblings and the sin that so easily besets. We are truly blessed to have you in our corner. Praise the name of Jesus now and forever more, Amen and Amen! Without His finished work, we would never be able to have times like these.

 

May we all find His will for our lives…

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

History is repeating itself...

 

(Proverbs 16:25) “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” 

My beloved siblings in Christ, today is a day that I know I will collect opposition, but as long as you see my heart in the matter and that what I have to say is received in the essence of someone looking out for you, someone who has your back, it will be well with my soul. This message is specifically for all my beloved sisters in Christ. And yes if what I am led to pen speaks to your hearts, you will also have your part to play in getting this message out.

From the outset that old platitude of "history always repeats itself", rings true. Have you ever wondered why? Mankind has fallen,because we have been tainted by sin. Simply put, no matter how hard one tries to do the right thing we will always come up short. Our intents may often seem genuine and at times we may even truly believe that we will change. This is where the power of the lie lives and gains momentum. It’s the partial change in our lives that tricks us into believing the lie, in part and at times we do see an adjustment, but never more than that. We can never rid ourselves of our default actions, which will always be tainted by our sinful natures. We will always put our welfare before others. The sooner we understand this the freer we will be to serve our God with a clear continuous.

This is why our Lord and Saviour had to die in our place, He had to open a new beginning for the sinner who through repentance becomes a true believer. Salvation is not patch work, like the worlds and its system propagates, we don’t go to a shrink to dig up the past so that we can confront it and then somehow find the resolve to talk about it and then be set free. NO! Christianity and our “born again” experience gives us a completely fresh start, but not in the old person, we don’t start again by going back into our mother’s womb. We are “born again” in the spirit. This unseen part to us lives that we now know is present, even if no one else can see it. However, they will certainly see a change in our lifestyles. Who truly knows that they have been born again and that they belong to Jehovah God? Without question, you know this to be true… If that is your experience, its God the Holy Spirit, who has quicken your spirit through repentance and by believing on the complete work of the cross you have receives eyes to see into the spirit world through the eyes of faith. A completely different form of communication become part of our lives. It’s as if we receive another sense and instead of 5 senses we now have 6; our faith and the ability to communicate with the Creator of the universe, in and through the person of Jesus Christ our Lord, and it is as real as any of our other senses. Thank you Father God for your intervention in so many lives.

We must be aware of this fact; the flesh or our carnality (our human natures) remains independent from our spirits. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6)  - And yet there is a bridge between the two, OUR MINDS process the thoughts pertaining to both the flesh and the spirit. This then is where traps to our Christian experience are laid by the enemy. Satan and his soldiers always looks to change and challenge the voice of God with what we see and hear. It’s at this point we are forced to process the information with our minds and this is where entrapment finds traction. Depending on what we use as our baseline to arrive at a conclusion. Emotion or logic is always triggered by the flesh, spiritual wisdom always comes when we apply God’s voice to our reasoning even if we don’t understand the reason behind his instruction. Even to that dilemma, God will give you understanding  in due season. Just as a soldier is put through their paces to qualify for a specific division, so too are we tested by God to see where we will stand on a particular subject.   

So how has history repeated itself? The voice of the enemy is asking the very same question as he did in the Garden of Eden. “Has God actually said”? If we allow our carnal minds to process the information that is out there, we will come up short and we will be playing into the enemy’s hands, just like Eve did in the Garden. However if we trust the Word of God and appropriate the “feminist movement” of today through the eyes of faith with the Word of God as our rudder it will be well with our souls.

We must learn, through testing to work out what is that good, acceptable and the perfect will of God for our lives and that process is worked out in and through our minds. It’s obviously the Spirit that feed us the correct information which will always challenge the voices of the world, always! But it’s up to us to then process the information.

The Apostle Paul, the same man that God chose to  influence  the gentile’s lives, in other words everyone who was not born Jewish. The very same man that was caught up into heaven where he saw things that he is not permitted to share with us. He received his revelation directly from heaven and it would be beneficially for all to listen to what he has to say…

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Who is challenging God’s order, where is that message gaining traction and where is the source of that message coming from?

To my beloved sisters in Christ, I am praying for all of you, that your faith will come out the other side tried and tested to the glory and praises of our God and king.

There is a lot more to explore on this subject and if any of you have any questions please send them on, let us stand together in the finished work of the cross and know this, just as our Saviour has our backs, I too will have yours.

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

God is Sovereign

God is Sovereign! This is a statement that many a preacher blurbs out from the pulpit and yet how many of us really understand and believes what that means. To be sovereign, means; a supreme ruler or someone not accountable to anyone else. It means to have the final say… God has and will always continue to have the final say regardless of all the objections and those looking to thwart His plans. All will fail, every single one of them. Beginning with Satan and all those who he has hoodwinked into believing his lies. Did you know that the notion behind lies was introduced by him? He is the father of lies. “…for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:44)

 

Once we dive deeper into scripture it soon becomes very clear about God’s sovereignty. I believe it’s a building block we all need in our lives, it is foundational. We must seek out God’s grace to understand His dominion and how that effects our lives. It’s crucial that we get this right, when we understand it correctly within our limited capabilities, when God the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to just a smidgen of God’s power, it instinctively boosts our faith in Christ. Just like I find myself instantaneously punching the air as I consider these thoughts; it’s this understanding that affirms we are on the winning side.  What would be the point if there was someone God had to get permission from in order to carry out His plans? He has and always will have the final say on all things pertaining to eternity and where we as individuals end up.  “If God is for me who can be against me?” That doesn’t mean that the Christian won’t face trials with the enemy looking to thwart his plans in the Lord. That’s a given! But who really cares, we belong to our God and HE WILL always have the final say. HE IS SOVEREIGN!

 

The world with their lies is now starting to grate me so deeply that I cannot remain silent. I see a “lion’s den” filled with furious beasts looking to devour. I am on the very road that will bring me to that enclosure, I still have a ways to travel, but before long I know I will arrive. Please pray for me, it is a subject that I am not excited to tackle but wrestle with it I must. I cannot remain inaudible any longer, the world with their influence is feeding the masses a diet of lies, which is now beginning to influence some of our weaker and newly saved sisters. But by the grace of God I will have none of that. If it’s the “Lion’s Den” I must breach then so be it, to truly bolster our faith and endure any hardship in life we feed on the Word of God. “Faith come from hearing the Word of God”. The enemy will always look to challenge the voice of God, his objective to cause doubt in an individual’s mind and he always does it on the back of a lie. The closer the liar incorporates as many truthful facts within their lie, the stronger the influence they may have on their targets. The Apostle Paul give us this insight to the Sovereignty of God, and remember he was caught up into heaven, where he saw things that are unlawful to speak about, where he received instruction directly from God. He gives us this advice and it would be prudent for all of us to heed his voice; “Let God be true though everyone were a liar…”  (Romans 3:4)

-      One of his points is that God is so awesome we must learn to trust Him at all costs, even if that nagging voice in our minds tells us the complete opposite. That carnal rational thought process that never looks to line up with God’s truth. Only because it has been tainted by sin. We never to find application in and through the Spirit...   

 

So on the back of God’s sovereignty and the Word of God, the Bible as His Instruction Manual, I will look for grace and strength to tackle what no one else has dared too. Well not at any great lengths that I am aware of, if I am mistaken, please forgive me. The Christian must lay their lives down for their siblings in Christ, period!

 

My conclusion, let us always remember that God is in perfect control of the universe, he even know the number of hairs we have on our heads, and that number is well into the billions when we consider the millions of people living on God’s planet, earth. It’s time to us to place our full trust behind His sovereignty, and not only when it is convenient suites. Trust even unto death is my pray for all of us, may the God of peace flood your souls and open your eyes to see a little clearer.

 

Please pray for me by name, and that I will be given wisdom in this area He is now leading me too.

 

Much love in Christ

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Moving with the times

  

(1Corinthians 9:22)  “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”

 

This is a very interesting concept that we should all chew on. However, be warned that when we do not apply ourselves correctly to it, we may end up giving ourselves a license to sin. “Becoming all things to all people” does not mean what I once believed, to become like them, so I may win them while under the influence, before long the power of the gospel will lose its power in us, because of our lifestyles. (you can read my autobiography called Destroy and Deliver Synopsis – which can be found on the Amazon platform in the form of an eBook). The Word of God never changes, nor should it, regardless of the fashion trends of the world. But for us too not use what we now have at our disposable for the sake of the gospel would be a disservice. So many digital platforms are being used to propagate sin and all things anti-God, for us not to be wise with these platforms, I believe, would be rash. Where will we find sinner that need saving? The Lord Jesus came to save sinners and not the self-righteous. But remember if salt loses its flavour what use does it have?

 

Father God please help us be effective in this world that is perishing;”“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”” (Matthew 10:16)  

 

Here is an example of what we should endeavour to do with what we have, time to think outside the box…        

 

"And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." — Mar_2:4

Faith is full of inventions. The house was full, a crowd blocked up the door, but faith found a way of getting at the Lord and placing the palsied man before him. If we cannot get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods we must use extraordinary ones. It seems, according to Luk_5:19, that a tiling had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a measure of danger to those below, but where the case is very urgent we must not mind running some risks and shocking some proprieties. Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what might, faith ventured all so that her poor paralysed charge might have his sins forgiven. O that we had more daring faith among us! Cannot we, dear reader, seek it this morning for ourselves and for our fellow-workers, and will we not try to-day to perform some gallant act for the love of souls and the glory of the Lord.

The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of human desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the four bearers of the palsied man: is not the Lord among us now? Have we seen his face for ourselves this morning? Have we felt his healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door, through window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all impediments, labour to bring poor souls to Jesus. All means are good and decorous when faith and love are truly set on winning souls. If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for souls is not to be hindered in its efforts. O Lord, make us quick to suggest methods of reaching thy poor sin-sick ones, and bold to carry them out at all hazards.” (C H Spurgeon)

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

The Art of War

 

The art of war is to study ones enemy, if we are serious about winning the battle. We also need to understand the rules of engagement. When playing a game of chess each piece has their specific moves. A pawn can only ever move a certain way and so on. Mankind is incapable of defeating the enemy without the correct assistance. The natural can never conquer the spiritual, it is impossible, and yet the enemy has tricked us into believing that it is imaginable. This is the devil’s greatest achievement. In casual discussion how many people believe, that we will get to heaven if our good deeds out way the bad? This is a trap that millions if not billions have embraced with open arms.

 

Let me squash that in its tracks…

 

And God said; “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6) 

 

To try and enter the kingdom of God/heaven through the carnal gate is nothing more than a trap skillfully laid by the enemy. Our spiritual activation button has to be initialized in order for us to have any chance of getting into heaven. Without it, we have no chance of arriving. The only question you need to ask and answer, is do you believe the Lord Jesus’ statement to be true or not? If not, you have and are still playing into the hands of the enemy. And you are doomed to his fate, which is the Lake of Fire; “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10) 

 

So how do you avoid this trap? You need your spirit to be activated. Think on it like this. After a computer download, although you have the specific program file on your hard drive, it remains ineffective until you initialize it. No differently to every human being who has a soul/spirit housed within themselves, activation is required. If not, it remains ensnared in the enemy’s hands. IT NEEDS INITIALIZING!

 

How is this done? The “Born Again Button” needs triggering, it’s rather simple actually, and I tell you the truth, I am not lying, here is the solution; “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)  - In other words, when simplified, if through repentance, you seek God’s forgiveness for your sin, when you call upon the Lord Jesus with sincerity, acknowledging your sin before God, this is when your spirit is activated and your eyes are opened through the gateway called “faith”; God gifts us with the ability to see into the spiritual world. It is a gift from God. This the narrow gate spoken of in scripture.

 

These are the facts, what you now do with them is entirely up to you…

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

 

          

Suffering for the sake of the gospel...

 

Do we need to suffer for the sake of the gospel and if so why?

 

Count it all joy when we fall into diverse trails of any kind. A totally foreign statement to our natural understanding, something we despise and look to avoid at all costs, until God gives us spiritual to see the purpose behind it all. A new perception behind the purpose of suffering become a way of life. But only when we yield to the Word of God. There is absolutely no hardship in the life of a Christian that isn’t working for good, moulding and fashioning the Christian into a better image of their Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, when they learn to “let go and let God” work in their lives. This is such a beautiful truth when objectified that it silences the gainsayers. Every second of your pain in suffering is producing a peculiar type of grace in your lives, it doesn’t matter if it is cancer, HIV, or any other life threatening illness or any form of smear;  it’s all working together for good. John Piper tackles this and affirms that we can’t see what it’s doing in our lives, in other words we won’t understand it, and yet we should understand it if we learn to feast on scripture. The Bible is full of these types of encouragements; “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2) and “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”  (1 Peter 4:1-2) - Suffering of any kind drives us towards the will of God in our lives. However, although all types of suffering works out for our good. When we learn or have to learn in the way I have learnt so many valuable lessons through rebellion and folly, when we suffer because we are dull of hearing. This is not really our objective, BUT GOD! Who is rich in mercy travels the extra mile even in our comatose states, He disciplines his children because of His great love. We serve an awesome God! We strive under the grace of God to appropriate this truth into our lives; “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2: 20-21) -  Even the tragic loss of a child, as painful as that may be, when we focus on the end game, it’s our Heavenly Father who is glorified, isn’t that what we all want the most, don’t we want to bring glory to our God? “As it’s working an eternal weight of glory for you.” (John Piper) - Suffering allows us to realise and embrace this, without it, we remain self-absorbed individuals.  It’s how we respond to the trial that needs toil. Grace must be entwined into our faith and in turn that produces a beauty beyond comprehension, it gives us endurance, it’s like an energy bar or a protein shake for the bodybuilder. We know that the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven and He is now seated at the right hand of God. Here is an example that got Gods attention, do you remember Stephen and the way the mob stoned him? Here is that account; “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:54-60) – I could spend time unpacking this account but I don’t think it is needed, I will just highlight some of the key points that I want you to consider.

 

Regardless of where we are steered, whatever comes across our paths in the form of tribulation and the diverse suffering we face as Christians, its working towards our eternal inheritance, bless the name of Jesus now and forever more, Amen and Amen! Our mantra must shift as we thank God that we are considered worthy enough to be counted amongst those who have suffered for the sake of the gospel. It’s all about being conformed to the will of God and we must learn to leave behind the thinking’s of the world’s perceptions. Quotes like, “you deserve to be happy” and the like impregnate the brains of those perishing. What they mean by those types of statements.  We are entitled to happiness around our selfishness which is always tainted with the stain of sin. God teaches us that suffering eradicates our self-centeredness.  

 

Let me conclude like this, Stephen fell asleep, look at the text, in other words he move from this life into the next, death has been conquered by our glorious Saviour, and He conquered it through the finished work of the cross. We needn’t fear death, it should no longer have its claws in us. It’s our faith that feeds our hope, and one day we will be with our God to forever rule and reign with Him. The grander the suffering, the better the chance of those witnessing the travail have a chance of being saved. Saul a devout Jew who persecuted the Christian witnessed the stoning of Stephen and he later became known as Paul, the man God use more than any other apostle to bring us sound doctrine through his writings in Scripture.  

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

 

Ps to suffer martyrdom for the sake of the gospel is truly a blessing and not a curse. For those who God has taken and will still lead down that road, their reward is waiting for them in heaven.