I normally love this time of year. I love the feeling of starting clean- of new beginnings. I love sorting through our new things & making resolutions & trying to make this year better than the last. Although, with this year starting off so hectic, I've only found time to jot a few resolutions down on the back of a piece of mail. Basically, its the same old stuff you'd expect to see.
Okay, so onto the most exciting news!!! Today, my sister, Amy, found out that baby #4 is a GIRL! Yay! For some reason, she's the only one in the Marshall clan to be able to produce a female, thus far. Eric & Lacey have two boys- Rian & Ethan; Michelle & Jerry have Joshua; Becky is still waiting for Mr. Right :) & Amy will now have one boy & three girls- Ruby, Reid, Lily & CLAIRE MICHELLE! I'm so excited to meet her! And the funniest part of it all is that Amy's has the same due date I did with Noah, June 7th! This will be the 7th Marshall cousin with a birthday in the time span of early May to mid June! Yikes!
The next thing I wanted say was that I went to Jim Rockholt's funeral today. I've only ever been to one other funeral. I was in 8th grade, & it was my grandpa's funeral. My grandpa didn't know the Lord & I wasn't really close to him, so it wasn't a extremely meaningful to me. It was actually really sad because he wasn't saved... but that's for another time. Jim's funeral, although sad, had me smiling. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I went to that funeral! I was praising God the whole drive home today. I knew that man loved Jesus & his wife & family, but to see pictures from his life & testimonial after testimonial of Jim's life & character- it was incredible. This man loved the Lord & lived for him. The whole service was centered on God because Jim's life was centered on God. Now, he gets to spend eternity with his Father! How awesome is that!?
Ever since I received the news of Jim's passing, I couldn't stop thinking about it. First of all, its just so mind boggling to think that we are still here struggling & stressing with the smallest to the biggest of trials while Jim is with Jesus. He is with Jesus! Our savior! That is so crazy! What are they doing? What is it like? I guess we can answer those questions based on what we know from reading scripture, but we will never really know how glorious it is until we are there. And more & more I'm excitingly anticipating how wonderful it will be when I meet my maker in heaven. When there are no more tears or sorrow or grief. Where there is no more pain or suffering. Where there is no evil. I wonder how great it will be to fall on our faces before our Lord & worship Him. I wonder...
So Jim passed away on Thursday & that's when I started thinking about death & being in heaven forever. Then, on Sunday, Rob, instead of teaching from Psalms (where we are in our verse-by-verse journey through the Word) taught from Revelation 4. It fit so perfectly with what's been going on in my mind. The chapter is known as the throne chapter. John writes of what he sees around the throne. It gives us a glimpse of how splendid & peaceful it is. He speaks of the worship & adoration of Christ. As Rob took us through the chapter, he spoke about our earthly bodies passing away & how we get to say goodbye to this awful world.
Satan is called the god of this world. This world is full of agony & full of suffering. But God, has an intended end for us. He has a plan for those who love him & are called according to His purposes. (Rom. 8:28) The plan, the 'good' that Paul is speaking of is not always what we see as wonderful & great. God doesn't promise to keep us from harm, but to see us through harm. What Satan meant for evil, God uses for good. (Gen. 50:30) The shaping of our character is good. Our response to God in times of trouble is good. God never lets us suffer needlessly, but cares for us & tenderly molds us into His beautiful image. I love that! I love that we get to go to heaven where Jesus reins. We get to spend eternity where our true citizenship is. We get to spend ages learning all the details of God's majestic character.
"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." -1 Corinthians 13:12
Lastly, I have to put up a cute video of the boys. I should probably explain it, though, because I don't want it to appear that I'm okay with Eli playing rough with his baby bother. So here is my disclaimer: Yes, they do play & yes, Noah does put up with some roughness. He's going to be a tough boy! However, this video was after they had been playing for fifteen minutes. It was escalating & Eli was getting too rough, so we made them stop. Eli is usually fairly gentle with Noah (as gentle as a 2 year old can be). It was so funny to watch them laugh & laugh at each other. :)
P.S. I think I'm going to make all my posts white from now on.... something new :) Okay, lets start over & get a fresh start on the new year...
1 comment:
Oh, that's so funny. Noah sure loves Eli, doesn't he? You're gonna have a couple of rough-housing, wrestling boys when they get bigger!
Post a Comment