Aunt Judy is rejoicing in the presence of Jesus with no more pain, no more sorrow and no more tears. Cancer was defeated last night!! Cancer sucks! But in the end, Cancer does not ever get to win in a battle against a believer. To those that remain behind, it will feel for a short while like Cancer won the battle. But we must remember that Cancer lost the War. When my husband, Taylor, lost his earthly body to Cancer, I found comfort in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.
For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling, is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring to put on our dwelling from heaven, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight, and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.
Cancer was able to destroy both Taylor’s and Judy’s “temporary, earthly dwelling”. But we know, for all of us, it is a temporary dwelling and that it will be destroyed. As believers we have a hope – no more than that – we have a Promise. We have a covenant with God through Christ.
As Taylor’s time here with me grew close to the end, there was a passage in Luke that he reworded slightly to make it personal for himself. Taylor’s version of Luke 12:4,
I tell you, my friends, I will NOT be afraid of this cancer that will kill my body and after that can hurt me no more.
I will be reminding Uncle Garry and the rest of our family and friends of what was my most comforting verse in the weeks after Taylor left this world. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18,
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Judy is already with Christ. We grieve because we will miss her presence here with us. We mourn in our souls that while she is already present with the Lord, we must remain in our own earthly tent as we desire to “put on our dwelling from heaven”. And finally, for those of us who do remain and yet long for the day when we will be in the presence of the Lord, I offer you Romans 14:7-9.
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living.
Please pray for Uncle Garry and our family during this time.
God Provides Grace and Humor 