#Christianarticle Archives

Handmade for a mission

As an answer to my prayer, our church hosted an artisan fair to sell our handmade crafts.

By God’s grace, my booth had a great sale. As always, God came through! This opportunity itself was an answer to my prayer from last year when I asked God to give me a greater purpose. Since the day pastor announced this, I had been staying up late every night to make at least one art each day. I felt super excited and very hopeful about raising a good amount which I wanted to give entirely for the missions. God’s faithfulness is beyond what I can fathom. Every now and then, I do spend time and money at the craft store and never worried about the bills that would add up because I always enjoyed doing these handicrafts. God is not a debtor to anyone and the way He compensated me for the expenses even before I hosted the booth – one of my managers recommended me for recognition at work and I got reward points which I could redeem and I received it this week.

As we started to set up our booth, the disappointments started. It was windy and my idea to display the arts didn’t work. My spirit had gone completely down and I had no hope left that I could sell anything. My kids and I held hands and we prayed giving it all into God’s hands. Within 5 minutes, Kavitha stopped by at our booth and she suggested putting up the bookmarks to display which would hold up better against the wind. It worked! We quickly got a hang of how to greet the people who stopped by and start the conversation. By the end of the day, our CIC friends also stopped by and contributed generously and we finished well.

Some of the miracles from this event are

A missionary who is supported by Calvary and serves in Japan stopped by my booth and I felt so happy to talk to her. In my opinion, missionaries are the ones whose life holds much value before God. While this sale is being done to support missions and for a missionary to stop by – it is like a confirmation.
I had made some pieces of jewelry in the past years which I had listed on so many craft sites and they never sold. I had given up on their selling but at this fair, I sold almost every one of those.
At the end of the day, I had sold 16 pieces of art.
Today the miracles continued. After the church service, I bumped into a lady who had bought a bookmark and she started talking to me and so amazingly she started to share a couple of prayer requests. Even she kept wondering how she was saying all these things to me as we had never met before.
When I was disappointed about being unable to display the arts, my husband came up with the amazing idea of displaying them in a creative way. If not for that idea, we could not have displayed the art which I had worked hard on for a month. Jayden got great compliments from a school teacher for his marketing skills.

The reason I wanted to support missions is that it is an easier way of storing our treasures in heaven. There are lots of parts in the world where even a small dollar amount would add up to a big amount. Life is short and eternity is forever. We tend to spend our time making our life in this world comfortable and yet not knowing how long we would be here. Rather it is wise to focus on storing our treasures in heaven to make our eternity comfortable.

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The most Secretive plot.. and yet

Jeremiah 17:9 “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is.

At the spring time of the year when kings go out to battle, King David stayed back by just sending his troops to fight the battle. He committed adultery with Bathseba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite while Uriah was fighting David’s battle at the war zone. David who was certified as a man after God’s heart went spiraling down in his sinful ways. A lustful look which was not plucked off the root soon enough sent him spiraling down the crooked paths of deceit.

Just like how Adam and Eve’s one disobedience cost them everything, we learn that it doesn’t take much to lose grip of everything and fall on one’s nose into the pit of sin. Starting with adultery, followed by betrayal and murder is how sin works. Sin is a downward spiral. Immediately after this, David was informed that Bathseba was pregnant with his child of adultery. To cover this up, he calls in Uriah from the battlefield to the palace and asks him to go to his home to be with his wife Bathseba hoping to convince that the child is Uriah’s. Unimaginable crookedness from a man like David!

But Uriah didn’t go to his house. Instead he slept at the door of the king’s house. When David asked why Uriah did not go to his house, Uriah replied, “The ark of Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? I will not do this thing“.

David gave it another try. He invited Uriah to the palace again to eat and drink and made him drunk. David hoped that Uriah would go home after being drunk. But Uriah, even in drunken state, slept diligently at the King’s gate. As David’s crooked plan did not work out, he wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter, he wrote, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die”. Unimaginable fall into crookedness in a wink of the eye, right? Once Saul did the same to David by sending him to the toughest battles hoping to get David killed. David was not killed in Saul’s plot but Uriah got killed in David’s plot.

After the mourning period was over, David married Bathseba and the son was born. So far it would have seemed to David that he successfully covered up everything. Because he had completely forgotten that God saw everything. So the LORD sent prophet Nathan to David to rebuke him of this sin. Nathan said to David as mentioned in 1 Samuel 12:9-15

“Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. ¹²You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad day light before all Israel.’You are not going to die.¹⁴But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for^[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

And the LORD did just as He said. He struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and it became ill. Regardless of how much David pleaded with God for the child, the child died on the seventh day.

God forgave David as soon as he repented but consequences could not be escaped. In this story, mostly our focus is on David as he is the decorated King who was praised as after “God’s own heart”. Bathseba is also equally guilty because she did not oppose or correct David’s act. The forgotten and the overpassed character in this story is Uriah the Hittite. This man had the sincerity and the zeal for the ark of God and his job of fighting the war for Israel. This man was betrayed by his wife in an instant with no second-thought and by the King who had the authority and the resources to cover up his mistake. Even Uriah did not have any way of knowing about the chain of injustice done to him- if not for God who sees everything and who does something about it.

God is the defender of the ones who suffer injustice. God did justice for this poor man by bringing what was done in the dark to light.

Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This is the cruelest plot mentioned in the Bible. David might have easily fooled the people but God can never be mocked.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

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How deep the Father’s love!

As the song “How deep the Father’s love for us” was sung during the Good Friday service, I broke down into tears. Even with us who are in the Christian circle for ages, the love of God-the Father towards us to send Jesus His Son to die on the cross for us is quite un-understandable. Those who are not in this circle yet have even harder time understanding the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

Though the Father’s love is vast and indefinite, I got a tiny glimpse of how a father’s love might look like. Love itself seems undefinable. My father went to be with the Lord in March. He was in coma for 4 weeks. God gave me the privilege of helping with my father’s last journey by reading the Word, praying for him and reconciled with him resulting in an amazing bonding. We had a sour relationship for quite a while. God spared me from regret by removing all bitterness from my heart. I asked my father to forgive me and conveyed to him that I realized very late that I did love him much – loved him enough to plead to Jesus for his eternity in heaven.

Doctor had told me in the first couple days that he will not sustain after removing from the ventilator. But by God’s amazing miraculous grace, my father started to breathe on his own. Not one day, not two days but for 21 days. Everyday I read the Word to him, talked to him a lot just as if he was conscious and prayed. Though there were times I couldn’t understand what God’s plan for my father was, each day made accomplishments in my life. Even before I got to the hospital, God had given me a word, “The yoke will be removed from my shoulder”. During this time when my father continued to breathe, God removed so many yokes from my life. As I wrote down the happenings of each day, I saw that each day accomplished something in my life towards my good future. It was like my father, even in his unconscious state, might have requested to Jesus to make provisions to protect my future and then to take him. I truly felt like there was probably no father in this world who would have done this for his child. Of course, behind this amazing happening was God’s grace towards me and my father.

If a father who did not have a great relationship with his daughter could do such a loving deed, how much more love would our Heavenly Father have for us?

Hebrews 9:22 Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Without forgiveness, no one can enter into God’s Kingdom. And the only other place with doors open wide is the hell. So, God sent His only Son, to suffer extreme pain and humiliation and then to die on the cross for us, to pay our debt in full. The Father’s love is so deep and vast. It is un-understandable for our little human wisdom. This is a glimpse I got of a father’s love from my own father. May we ever be grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father and the sacrifice of Jesus and for the guiding and comforting presence of our Holy Spirit Lord! AMEN!

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The noose of the money bag

Luke 22:3 Satan entered into Judas. Whoever betrays Christ, or His truths or ways, it is Satan that puts them upon it. How Satan entered into Judas was in awful stages. The awful stages were 1) Covetousness being his master-passion, the Lord let it reveal itself and gather strength by entrusting Judas with the money bag, as treasurer to Jesus and the twelve disciples.

In the discharge of that most sacred trust, he became a thief, taking the money from time to time to his own use. Satan, seeing this door into Judas’ heart standing wide open, determines to enter by it, but cautiously putting it into his heart to betray Him, suggesting the thought to him that by this means he might enrich himself.

God gave His children the Ten Commandments to keep. If we find ourself breaking those commandments by simple white lies, coveting, dishonoring parents, having other priorities than God etc, we should have the wisdom to understand that we are doing what the devil wants us to do and not God. Neglecting these in the beginning makes the heart and the conscience callous and then it makes one go in a downward spiral with the devil.

The devil’s tactics are old and nothing new. He blinds people into being ignorant. Amazed by how Judas after making a pact with the Chief Priests still came over for the Passover meal with Jesus and the rest of the disciples. This Jesus who always exposed the crooked thoughts of the Pharisees and Sadducees, would He have not known what Judas was upto? But the devil blinded Judas from realizing that Jesus is omniscient and omnipotent.

Amazed by how the chief priests who claimed to keep even the smallest of the laws had no problem plotting to kill a sinless man because He came in the way of their earthly agendas.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

The God who created the universe and all the living things in it has promised that He will feed us and provide for us without fail. So we don’t have to exhaust ourselves in such meaningless pursuits after wealth rather focus on the heart of God and His Kingdom.

Of all the disciples, only Judas was given the money bag because he was the only one who was greedy while the rest of them laid down their lives for the sake of the gospel of Christ. And the noose of that moneybag strangled Judas’ neck to his death.We are tested in our area of weaknesses more than the strengths. May we ask Him not to lead us into temptation but to deliver us from the evil one! AMEN!

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In these shoes

For more than 4 weeks, I had been trodding the hospital corridors in these shoes along with Indian outfits and thus screaming, “She doesn’t belong to planet India”.I went to India with the verse – Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Little did I know that I was going to be walking through the fire – in these shoes.

Same way, when I came last year for my mom’s last days, God sent me with the Word Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Thanking God for speaking through His Word and then keeping it without fail. Even before I left to India, the verse Psalm 125:1 came to me twice

Psalm 125:1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. This was the verse in my mom’s gravestone. And by March 22(the day my dad went to be with the Lord), I got this verse 5 times. And yes, it is the same verse that was put in dad’s gravestone too. This has been quite a journey for me. And God has been faithful to His Word and He is bringing me out of this fire stronger than ever. He did not allow me to be scorched or burnt but refined me as gold to serve His Kingdom purpose.

I learnt several lessons in this journey. Standing in the gap for the souls matters preciously in God’s eyes. As it is, without having to do anything, hell fills up quickly in multitudes; Heaven, on the other hand, one soul at a time, is it not? Because the standards of heaven is too high. God got me to pray for my dad for this entire past year. Little did I know the urgency of time back then. I wouldn’t let go of my dad without making sure that he is headed to heaven. As he was in coma, I did everything possible from my side, as guided by God on what to pray, what Word to read to him, what to say in his ears to get our relationship restored from bitterness and regrets etc. I am not even exaggerating when I say that I literally was knocking on heaven’s doors for my dad. God has been so faithful. I truly believe that because God had grace for both my parents, He prepared me beforehand to lead them through those doors.

Another lesson I learnt is the joy of finding the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son. As I have read these parables for years and I never understood what that joy felt like. I never could put myself in their shoes of “lost and found”. But in the end of this journey, I very well understood that joy. Because, during the first 10 days I was in India, I got just 2 hours of sleep. I would fall asleep at 9 out of exhaustion only to wake up at 11, every night. After that, it was just tossing and turning and praying for my dad, as I didn’t know if he got everything right with God and he was in coma, so I had no way of knowing. And I wouldn’t let him go without making sure and helping him in every way from my side. I truly felt what the birthing pain would be like, for the sake of a soul. I had asked God for an evidence to know if my dad made it to heaven. And God gave him a peace-filled face on the entire day of the funeral and filled my heart with peace that comes only from Him. That night also I couldn’t sleep, not because of desperation, but because of overflowing peace.

Third lesson that I learnt is for us to point people to the saving and redeeming grace of Jesus. The Son of God made the biggest sacrifice of all – laid down His life on the cursed cross for the sake of redeeming us. If we truly say that we care about the people in our life, we should point them to Jesus and thus to heaven. The mystery of life is that we don’t have a way of knowing how much of our life is left. And this life is what decides about where we will spend eternity. As we see lives ending in front of our eyes in an instant, let us wisen up and make use of the time in hand and live a life pleasing to God so that there be no regrets when we take our last breaths.

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Breathed against all odds

My Appa went to be with the LORD on March 22. The last 4 weeks had been quite a journey with him. It had been a year since Amma went to be with the LORD on Feb 2. Appa had gone to her grave for prayer and broke down and cried. A year without her had changed him a lot. On that morning, as usual, I woke up early to pray for Appa and then slept in the same spot. Right before the alarm went off at 7, I saw a dream and it disturbed me. I saw my amma and Appa in our home with no furnitures. Appa was coming down the stairs with a backpack and Amma asked him how his hand was. He did not reply but he skated across the room. Worried, I held his hand and said, “Appa, you need to sit down” and I saw a wheel chair. That was the dream. I kind of sensed that something was going to happen to him.

The next day he got admitted in the hospital as he felt dizzy while sitting on the bed, slid and fell on the bed. In a couple days, the doctor said that Appa had a fracture in the hip and doing a surgery would relieve him from the pain. I gave the consent for the surgery right away as I wanted to spare Appa from any pain. The surgery got scheduled for Feb 11 which is my birthday. I talked to Appa that morning, told him that it was my birthday and he blessed me. That was the last conversation I had with Appa.

After the surgery, Appa responded fine for couple hours. Then he coughed and aspirated. A clot had moved to a bad spot in the brain which caused him eventually to lose his response. I planned my travel to India. In my waiting, I had only one prayer, “Lord, please spare me from any regret. Appa should respond to me when I call him”.

By the time I reached the hospital on Feb 20, he was already in the ventilator and not responding. I felt shocked and disappointed because I had prayed only one prayer and it was not answered. The first day went by with absolutely zero response. On the second day, his eye was open for a couple minutes but he did not recognize me. As I called him with desperation which turned into cries, miraculously his hand which was paralyzed with no movement – lifted up. It was a significant rise. On the third day, I headed to the hospital, with the plan to tell the doctor to remove the ventilator. God had different plans for His ways are not for us to understand. That morning, Appa responded big time. For around 45 minutes, he had his eyes open, eye balls moving to the sound. He recognized me, had tears in his eyes. Every time I called him, he looked at me. Standing there, I felt overflowing with joy and gratitude towards God – not because He gave me any hope of his recovery, but just because God answered my prayer – not when I expected, but in His time.

Following day was back to no response. Now I had to decide about the ventilator as we were way past the allotted time. But I felt lack of peace as if there is something still undone. All my good friends had told me to pray loudly for him to hear, read the Word loudly and to talk. I wasn’t doing any of that because I was very hesitant to do all this in front of people.

Thanks be to God who comes through with answers. That early morning, sentences came into my ear to tell Appa that I love him, I forgive him and I don’t have any anger at all and to ask him for forgiveness and many such sentences. I instantly understood that it is the Lord speaking to me. That day I had determined in my heart to speak all of this in Appa’s ear, read the Word and to kneel down there and pray. It wasn’t easy especially to kneel down in front of all the people. But, nothing was bigger to me than what God put in my heart. As I knelt down, I said, “Lord, I kneel down and go low here so that Your name be lifted up in this place”. After I did all this, I felt like the missing piece was done and I felt so much peace.

In the next couple days, we decided to remove him off ventilator. It seemed that he won’t survive once ventilator is removed. But, against all odds, he started breathing. Not for one day or two, but he continued to breath for 23 days. Except, there was no response from him. I had been reading the Word everyday in his ear, talked in his ear about how much I loved him which I didn’t realize till then, asked him to forgive me and I talked so many things as the Lord put in my heart.

The next weeks were very difficult for me. He was breathing and all organs were functioning against all odds, but without response, none of it mattered enough. But God’s timing is perfect which our little brain doesn’t comprehend. By breathing, Appa brought through some mighty breakthroughs in my life. I had never taken a stand for Appa in my life. But when he was in coma, I took a mighty stand for him when he was in coma that I will not leave him behind but will stay back and take care of him.

Even before this journey started, God had given me various verses. One was “the yoke will be removed from your shoulder“. Along with my prayer friends, I had only one prayer. “Lord, please take him to heaven in Your time and please do not let him to suffer”. There were days like Elijah sending his servant to look for a rain cloud and got nothing.

On March 22, Appa had a cardiac arrest and he left peacefully, as witnessed by the ICU staff. God answered my every single prayer. All I wanted for Appa was to go to heaven and not suffer here. I had asked God for an evidence that he made it to heaven. God granted that evidence as a peace-filled face on the entire day of the funeral. God truly had been the author and finisher of Appa’s faith.

Appa was saved merely by grace. The Lord who showed mercy on the prodigal son, the tax collector and the theif on the cross – showed mercy on Appa. Lot of times, it is us, the legalists, who write off people from receiving grace from the Saviour who died on the cross for them and us alike.

If the One who died on the cross is willing to show mercy to whom He wants to show mercy, who are we to stand in the way?

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The Golden Scepter

On the third day, Queen Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

And the king said to her, “What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you— up to half the kingdom!” Queen Esther invites king and Haman for a banquet which she had prepared for Haman. At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, “ What is your petition? It shall be given to you— up to half the kingdom!” Queen Esther invited them again for a banquet the next day. And on the second day, at the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, “ What is your petition? It shall be given to you— up to half the kingdom!”

Then Queen Esther answered and said, “if I have found favor in your sight, O King, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated”.

So king asked,”Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?” And Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!”

The king ordered for Haman to be hanged on the same gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, Queen Esther’s uncle.

I love the story of Esther. In a story where God is not mentioned, He was still present in the picture. At times, when we fret wondering where God is, this story is a reminder for us that God is always a very present help for His children. Even when wicked people forget that God sees, God reminds them with a mighty and outstretched arm that He sees and He knows how to rescue His children. I imagine Esther to be a woman clothed in grace and favor. I am amazed by her wisdom and patience to wait for the right moment to place her petition. Just like Moses, even when the kingdom was offered to her, she did not put herself first and choose her own selfish protection and provision, instead she kept the priority of the protection of God’s children.

I often picture myself as standing in front of God Almighty With my petitions. May the good Lord always show us mercy by stretching out the scepter to us. May we not request for perishing blessings of this world but instead put His will and glory first.

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A very crumbled dollar bill

Isaiah 43:4 (NKJV) Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you.

Today is my birthday! From my young age, I had this habit of asking my Abba Father God for a birthday gift. My dad gave me good gifts for my birthdays when I was young. Growing up in India, gold jewelry made an expensive special gift for me, mostly every year. Though my birthdays seemed special at our home, the rest of the days were miserable. So, I started to look upon God as my Father as He is the perfect father.

I consider myself like a very crumbled $100 bill. In a few decades, I had no self-esteem left. As I couldn’t meet the expectations of my family, I felt like I had no value at all. If a dirty crumbled $100 bill is found in the garbage, people would still take it because they know its worth.

So, what is my worth? Jesus, the Son of God, stepped down from all His riches in heaven, into this miserable world for my sake. Jesus, the Word, who brought everything into existence, came down as a humble baby, in a manger, in the humblest form so that the poorest of the poorest can relate with Him. And He lived a life with not a single sin for about thirty-three years, giving good news to the spiritually poor, freedom to the spiritually captives, healing to the brokenhearted and vision to the spiritually blind. That is my worth. The Son of God Himself came down to rescue me! The LORD of Hosts fights my battles and asks me to just be still and know that He is God! He covers me with His robe of righteousness and calls me “justified”. He paid for all my sins and gave me a clean note saying, “paid in full”. ELROI God who tells me, “Don’t worry. I see you”. He holds me in the palm of His nail-pierced hands. I am the daughter of the One True King! AMEN!

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Bruised Reed

Mathew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.

Remembering my mom as today is her first anniversary of being with the Lord. I can only be grateful to God for relieving her from her miserable life. I am amazed by how she held on to God. I am just amazed by how she hung in there as the only person for a lifetime because even I wasn’t there for her. I am so thankful to God for giving me two weeks with her which balanced out the previous decades which were bitter and shallow.

God’s faithfulness gives me so much hope. One day, I will finish my race in Christ too. I am sure of that because my race is dependent not on me, but the author and finisher of my faith that is Jesus.

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Mathew 5:16

My mom’s light probably did not shine so bright, but God in His amazing grace did not let her little light be snuffed out.

God honored all her prayers. She had prayed all her life that she should not suffer from sickness. Within months of being diagnosed of cancer spread in multiple organs, she was taken away from it. She did not suffer a bit of pain due to such dreadful disease. How faithful God is!

The first and the last words she told me is “I am going to Jesus”.

The last thing she asked me to do is to read the Word for my dad everyday, just as I did for her. She asked me to buy a Bible with big letters for him to read.

She has passed on the baton to me now. Amazing how within a year, my dad’s redemption has become my goal. I have complete faith in the redeeming grace of Jesus.

I praise this God who taught me to forgive and to love the unloveable. Now I will be still and wait for His time of redemption.

My mom’s life looked bleak, downcast, lonely, looked down upon. That was her entire life of 73 years. Even I wasn’t a support for her. Her only refuge was God. She was drowning in the water her entire life and the only life-jacket she had was JESUS. And JESUS never failed her. NEVER! He helped her to finish the race in Him. He made me the witness to see His faithfulness upon her till the end of her life. He gave me the privilege to reconcile with her, serve her and lead her towards heaven in the last stretch. Now all I can remember is the two good weeks God gave me with her. Isn’t it amazing how God can remove the bitterness without a trace? He removed a lifetime of regret from me.

THIS bruised reed, HE did not break. THIS smoldering wick HE did not snuff out.

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Brevity of life

I feel extremely saddened by the news of the passing away of a crochet Youtuber. Around 5 years back, when I was without job for couple months, I signed up for a crochet class in Joann craft store. It was a three hours session. I wanted to quit in 30 minutes as I could not keep up with the learning. By the time I got home after three hours session, I was clueless on what I learnt. I decided to check the YouTube to see if I can learn following any easy tutorials. That is when I came across this beautiful and passionate Youtuber. I loved how she did the tutorial. I followed that video and made a cap. I loved to watch so many of her videos and quickly learned to make so many patterns of caps and scarves.

I remember her announcing about diagnosis of a rare kind of cancer. Even saw her videos of getting treatment and such. I felt extremely shocked when yesterday her husband posted in Facebook that she went to be with the Lord. Over the time, I had watched several crochet Youtubers, but about her, I knew that she was a believer of Jesus. So I felt much saddened by this news. Her husband also had posted a picture from her last days. Instantly reminded me of my mother who went to be with the Lord in February of 2021. My mother also was diagnosed with cancer and in a few months, she also had lost so much weight and by the time I got to see her, she was very thin and fragile.

Though I do not know this lady more than through her videos, I did know that she was a believer. I just felt so deeply saddened to hear the news of her passing away. She finished her race in Christ. She is free from all the pain and sufferings of this sickness.

Be it a loved one or be it even someone whom we don’t know personally, death is a very real happening. This life is short and this world is not our home and eternity is extremely long. Most people don’t like to think about death or talk about it, yet it is a very real thing. We see the reality of it more than ever during this pandemic. Truth, whether we like to believe or not, is that we all are running towards a finish line, aren’t we? For some, the finish line is decades away. For some, the finish line pops up right in front as least expected. For some, the finish line is so unpredictable. For some, the finish line is just a matter of any time. One thing common is that we are all running towards a finish line after which is eternity in heaven or hell. There is no middle ground. The life that we live in this world determines if we would spend eternity in heaven or in hell.

As it is, I am not worried about dying. I have surrendered my life to Christ. Though far from perfect, I do strive to live a life that pleases Jesus for He redeemed me from the pits of sin, depression, failures, shame and many other such. He showed me abundant of grace when all I deserved is punishment. Yes, He did discipline me, but I saw His love and gentleness in that disciplining, while He could have zapped me with lightning. I am ready to spend eternity with Jesus if He would take me today. I saw the glorious smile on my mom’s face after she left. I saw the grace He showed her by being so faithful to her. But yet, whenever I hear such stories of people leaving too soon, it affects me much. Though I am not afraid of entering into eternity today, what worries me is awaiting the unknown. Everyone has trials awaiting. For everyone it is a different kind. The mystery of what is going to be our lot is what worries me. But, as always, God is faithful because He has promised that His grace is sufficient. He has promised that He is the author and finisher of my faith. No one of this world are capable of keeping promises. There is one and only promise keeper and that is Jesus.

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

My faith is in Jesus to finish this race in Him. I cannot do this on my own. Jesus is faithful as He doesn’t ask me to somehow make it on my own. He runs right beside me, picks me up when I fall down, cheers me and sees me through till I finish this race. I do not know what kind of trial I will face and when my finish line would show up, but I trust in Him as I run this race.

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

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