A Story that has Hope

I hope that no one minds me posting about this. I guess I usually do say what I want to about things, anyway.

I like to borrow the subtitle "A Series of Unfortunate Events" when I refer to the process of obtaining a residential work visa in Kuwait. If you don't know that long story, I will tell it to you some other time. I refer to it now to make the point that I had to return to the USA in December to finish some paperwork, which was also a really convenient break to spend Christmas with my family.

In the months (well, really a year or so) leading up to December 2010, I was struggling with the difficulty of this process. I questioned why God couldn't make it easier. On many occasions, I became angry, impatient, and anxious to be finished with everything. And then the school told me I had to travel to the U.S. Yikes.

To my family's surprise, I showed up at my parents' house on December 15th and was able to spend two wonderful weeks with them. During that vacation, I was also able to spend several days with my seemingly healthy grandmother, who is now very ill. Since I was the only one not working then, I was able to take her to the hospital a few times for testing, because the doctors didn't yet know why she was not feeling well and didn't have much of an appetite. My family found out that she has an aggressive type of abdominal cancer a few days after I returned to Kuwait on New Year's Day. In just two short months, her health has digressed to where she is sleeping around 20 hours per day, but thankfully, she is not in any pain. She has elected not to undergo treatments.

While I don't know all of the reasons why God appointed me to go to the States this past December, I am certain that one of them was so I could spend time with Gram. It has been difficult being in Kuwait and not around my family, knowing that I might never be able to see Gram as I have always known her. I'm sad that I am losing her, but at the same time, I have hope because I know I will see her again.

My grandmother is an amazing woman, totally selfless for longer than I've been alive. This isn't because she's just a good person though, it's because of God's work in her heart. I'm confident that I will see her again in Heaven because of her faith in Jesus, and I don't have to worry or have doubts about that.

The bible says, "you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked," (Ephesians 2:1). That applies to everyone. Period. If you are human, you are dead and have no chance of life in Heaven on your own. We've all sinned and our sin is unacceptable to a Holy God. It's like he's a judge and we're the criminals. No matter how big or small our crimes, if he let us get away with them, would he be just? No. The problem is, we can't serve our own "sentence" because we just keep sinning. We have an eternity of sentences because we will never be perfect, and punishment is an eternity in Hell.

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." (Romans 3:10-11)
 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23)
It has to be someone perfect to the serve the sentence, and thankfully, that someone is Jesus.

If you trust in Jesus, your punishment or "sentence" is payed for. That's it. It's that easy. But, trust in Him for what? You have come to terms with the fact that you aren't perfect and you can't be who God wants you to be on your own. You have to tell God that you know no matter how nice you act, you can't earn your way into Heaven, and that's hard to do! If you have faith in Jesus, believing that he payed for your sins through His death on the cross, God will count your sentence as being served. "By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

When you put your faith in Jesus, you can have total assurance of Heaven. You will never have to doubt whether you are "good enough" to get there. I don't have to doubt that I will be with Him there for eternity, and I don't have to wonder if Gram will be there either, "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)

I'm still praying for Gram to be healed, but either way, I still have hope.