Dear All,

 

When I sent out the last Coffee Break devotional, "Borrowed Time", I had no idea that I would experience it in a way that touches me personally. On March 29 (Saturday), the Lord decided to "call in" my mother's "loan". Her loan on time was up. During the early hours of the morning, while the rest of us were sound asleep, the Lord was awake and stepped through the portals of glory and ushered my mother home, and has taken her to that place He has prepared for those who love Him.

 

It was a shock to us all. She had not been ill. The Lord in His grace orchestrated it so that I could see her one last time the evening before. She looked great. She was very upbeat. She did not complain of feeling bad. She even cooked dinner for me so that I would not have to do it after a long day at the shop. None of us had a clue that this would be the last time anyone had an opportunity to see her and talk with her. But the Lord did. The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die. We all have an appointment time that awaits us-- only we don't have the luxury of knowing when that time will be. Therefore, we must always be ready. Making peace with God and securing our eternal soul through faith in the finished work that Jesus did for us at the cross, should be our life's number one priority. My mother had no idea that she would see her last sunset on this side of eternity when she went to sleep. She went to bed with thoughts of her next day's appointments. She had already made physical preparation for the events of the following day. But that day, those appointments, the plans that she would fulfill never came.

 

My mother passed from this life peacefully. She simply went to sleep here on earth and woke up in heaven. Though it was a shock and though we already miss her dearly, and even though our hearts are breaking, we are so thankful that she did not suffer and she was not in pain. We know that she is with Jesus, and that when she left this earth she did not leave it alone, He was her guide unto death, He was walking with her through the valley of the shadow of death, she was not fearing what she was going through, the sting of death and victory of the grave could not touch her. We rejoice in the blessed hope and promise that we have to be reunited again with her in Christ's eternal kingdom.

 

We always say that life is short and no one is promised tomorrow. We don't know when our time one earth is up so we must be ready. My mother's home going gives testimony to this fact. Therefore, I want to take advantage of this opportunity and urge you to make sure that it is well with your soul. Don't put off securing your eternal soul while you have time. Today is the day of salvation, now is the acceptable time, because you may not have another time to do it. 

 

Having said all this, there will be no CB devotionals the rest of the week so that I can be with my family and tend to business that has to be done. Our pain is real, it does hurt but our sorrow is not as those who have no hope. The Lord has truly been the "glory and the lifter of our heads", and has been faithful to His promise to be near to those who are of a broken heart. Your 

prayers will be deeply appreciated.

 

Love and blessings,

Lorraine Ezell