Mimi is Home

Yesterday afternoon my Mimi went Home. I will miss her so much, but I know that she is in a far better place now.

Letter from Papaw today:
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5 Jeannine and I woke up this morning rejoicing that Mimi is with the Lord and happy in Him and will never have any more pain or sorrow, but at last God's purposes for her in creating her are being fulfilled as she is "like Him for she has seen Him as He is" (from 1 John 3:1-2). We both talked about how amazing it is that though we miss her and will continue to--and think about the Reunion with her we will have one day--that God has given us that deep-seated joy that the world cannot understand. So that we can be "sorrowful and yet always rejoicing." Yesterday the emphasis was on the sorrowful part; this morning the emphasis is on our hearts in the heavenlies rejoicing in the Lord and so very excited for what our sweet Mimi is actually experiencing at this very moment. Only those who know Jesus can experience that deep-seated joy in the midst of the sorrow in our heart.

Twice Jesus said, "if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death" John 8:51 and John 11:26 "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Minnie's body died, but she did not; she went to be with the Lord and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." The other day on her death bed Minnie said those beautiful, encouraging words that I sent to you the other day, and almost her last words were, "God has given me so much happiness!" And she brought that happiness to us! but this morning she is experiencing complete happiness and satisfaction in being with the Lord and others she loves with no admixture of sorrow, regret, or suffering.

One of the most beautiful verses in the Bible is Ephesians 1:6 "To the praise of the glory of His grace, through which He has made us accepted in the Beloved." There's a new song that someone let me listen to on a CD, "To the praise of His glorious grace." This CD is marvelous. It's "A Quiet Heart" by Soundforth Singers & Orchestra. One stanza reads like this:

Providentially ruling all things,

To conform to the end He designed.

He mysteriously governs and brings

His eternal, wise plans into time.

He works out every step, every trace,

To the praise of His glorious grace.

Jesus was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," but He "endured the cross" by focusing on "the joy set before Him"--the results that God brought out of His sufferings. Heb. 12:1-3 And He told this to His disciples--and through them to us--the day before He died:

"You shall weep and lament, . . . and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. . . . And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
. . . . "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:20-24

Rejoicing in the Lord,

Pastor & Jeannine

Timothy is coming tomorrow and Jonathan will be here on Friday and all 4 of us will be at the Memorial Service at Oak Bay Baptist Church in Port Hadlock Monday morning at 11:00 AM January 18. And Tina & James will be there, too with Tina's mother and Joanna.

[And there will be another Memorial Service for Minnie at Siloam Springs Bible Church on Saturday, January 30 at 11:00 AM.]

Mimi, we will see you again. In the meantime, I'm treasuring all of the memories. Love you so much, forever.