The humidity rolled in like a steam engine; it made my legs feel like I was walking through thick mud! One step, mud, second step, mud, take a breath. Whew! “Boy, it’s so hot I can hardly breathe!” Then a thought erupted in my brain. “This must have been how Wayne felt all summer… the summer of 2017 when it was so hot and humid!”
The next emotion I felt was the “cool breeze” of relief; Wayne was no longer struggling to breathe. Not the customary flood of tears! Imagine that! A feeling of actual relief! One, that Wayne was not suffering through another summer praying to breathe, second, that he was not battling daily with the desire for his health to be better!
There is an old re-frame that comes to mind:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus…look full in His marvelous face … and the things of earth will grow strangely dim … in the light of His glory and grace!”
My grief process started with me saying “I don’t know why, but I know God is sovereign!” That simple statement came straight from God! And it provided comfort and caused me to look straight into the face of God! Additionally, the song says, “look full in His glorious face!” I’ve said it before, and it deserves to be said again: “God and only God carried me through and to the place of healing that I now stand upon.”
The supernatural power of God is like the plow a farmer uses to prepare his land for planting. Row after long row you can see the clean cut of the plow. God’s power is just like the plow! It cuts through the clogged weeds of my grief to bring me out of tangled emotions and puddles of tears, to a field of sweet relief… Wayne was not struggling to breathe! To that I say, “Thank you Jesus!”
Have you ever stroked the face of someone you love? Maybe it was before or after a kiss. However, it occurred- as you touched their face in an act of tenderness, a warmth spreads over you.
I CALL IT A LOVE BURST! AND, the exact feeling I have when I look into the face of God. I simply close my eyes and imagine the face of God. Try it, right now, (if you’re not driving or operating heavy machinery!) There is no right or wrong way to do this. Just imagine what you think the face of God looks like. Now, note how you feel. For me, His face warms my spirit and melts away fear, anxiety, tension, and pain; everything else grows strangely dim Which means that moment shines in comparison to everything else! The truth is that when I envision that I’m looking into The Face of God there is not room for anything else!
“For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”! Corinthians 13:12
Christian Standard Version
“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
The Message Version
“In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face. Now all that I know is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now. “
Living Translation
“For now, we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God]. “
Amplified Version
When I investigate the face of God, I turn away from the door that closed (when Wayne took his last breath) and I look to the window that is open wide for all that God has for me!
Now, it’s your turn~
Take a moment… look into the face of God… what do you see?