Heaven!

While waiting for the arrival of precious baby Clara, Mark’s Granddad went on hospice. He passed away on Saturday, March 21^st. The whole Hall family is grieving – their second loss in as little as 3 months time. Nanny (Mark’s mom’s mom) passed away early in January and Granddaddy (Mark’s dad’s dad) just a few days ago. All the kids and grandkids were close to Nanny and Granddaddy. I was fortunate enough to have met them before alzheimers started affecting Nanny in big ways and while Granddaddy was still his chipper old self – even though he couldn’t hear very well. But, I loved them too – and I can’t imagine how hard it is for the rest of the family – who knew and loved them much longer.

Mark and I have been talking and reading about what happens after death for those who believe in Christ, which, praise the Lord, Nanny and Granddaddy did – and were both amazing examples for the rest of our family!

Mark found this blog post the other day: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-happens-at-death. At the end of it is a link to a sermon by John Piper about death too. I highly recommend you read them.

I love that at the moment of death – believers are purified and cleansed of all sin. Their last breath is here on earth and their very next breath is with our Lord in heaven. How comforting is it to know that Granddaddy is up in heaven, praising his Lord – and probably eating candy. And, Nanny is probably the silliest, sweetest friend to everyone up there - dancing her heart out in worship. They are fine – they are MORE than fine, they are FULL of everlasting JOY! We are the ones left here on earth, sad that we don’t get to spend any more time with them.

But, we do! We just need to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and we will be saved too!! Is it that simple? Well, yes!! Is it really free? Yes! Do we have to do anything else to earn our salvation? Nope.

As we become stronger in our faith – we will want to do things to give glory to God. We will want to help others. We will learn to desire God’s heart and love people like he does. We will also fall short in many, many ways – but we will grow as we grow in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Even though the impending arrival of baby Clara means that we cannot attend Granddaddy’s funeral today and tomorrow, we are thankful that God chose Clara’s birth to be around this time – so we can all look forward to the new life that He gives too!! Clara will meet Nanny and Granddaddy someday – in heaven, we pray. What a blessing it was that Caleb got to spend time with them before they passed away. We will absolutely tell our kids about them, about their hearts for the Lord, about their silly, sarcastic personalities, and about the wonderful people that they were here on earth! I am so thankful for their lives. Their choices and decisions gave me my own sweet family!!

Love and hugs to all the Hall family as they celebrate Granddaddy Hall in Wytheville today and tomorrow.

Katherine, Mark, Caleb, and (any day now) Clara Marie