Heaven Bound

The New Year dawned here in Hawaii with a beautiful blue sky, the last of the smoke from the evenings fireworks disappearing in to the night along with what remained of the previous year.  I’ve always liked the start of the New Year;  the chance to make a fresh start on all the new years resolutions from the past,  I had never seemed to be able to accomplish yet.

Last night was a quiet and personal night for me (with the exception of the constant boom, boom from the neighborhood fireworks).  I played on my computer for a while chatting with a few folks in a christian chat room and then about 10:00 p.m. I signed off, I wanted to have time to read my bible, pray and have communion – celebrating the Lord’s table,  before the last night of the year wound down.   Besides being the end of the year, 2009 was also the end of a very difficult  decade for me, one which began  in 1999, the year I came to Hawaii.

 As I reflected on all that had happened in the last ten years, I realized how good God has been in teaching me and sustaining me through what I now refer to as my wilderness years.  Some how I knew, even during the darkest days when I felt so lost and alone, that God would not leave me in this state forever.  Some how, he would find me. I remembered that it said in his word   – “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion”.  And, though it seemed at times like it was never going to happen, my mind and spirit clung to the hope in those words.  

You know, this is so simple, yet so profound.   How could I, on one hand feel so lost and alone and on the other hand, know that Jesus would come for me?  The answer is simply this, because I belong to Him.  At the cross of Calvary some 2000 years ago, I was bought and paid for with the blood of the Messiah and  though my actions may not always reflect it, my spirit eternally bears the stamp – “paid in full.”   Jesus, the good Shepherd gave his life for his sheep and in his word, he promises to go in search of even one that is lost.    As I pondered these things, I randomly opened my Bible  and began reading at Philippians chapter 1.   Off hand, I could not remember the content of  this first book of Philippians, but, as I began to read, tears of thanksgiving welled up in my eyes as I read these words:

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” 

I can’t tell you how much  this meant  to me.  That God would end the year, the decade with the very verse I had clung to all those years!  What a confirmation of his love and care!  Yes, Cindy, there is a God in heaven, and he sees you and knows you and will keep the promise he made to you so many years ago, when you first accepted him as Lord and Savior.   What a special night it was, this last night of 2009.  For me, the dawning of 2010 began a new decade, a new decade of hope and the realization of a promise kept.