Into HIS Presence - 1 Year

At 6PM on October 19th, 2006 - one year ago today - my husband, Bob, entered into the Presence of His Savior Jesus Christ! We celebrated his home-going then - as we do now - with JOY. Bob was blessed by our 3 children and their spouses and the 5 grandchildren - all of which he was able to hold in his arms before entering the gates of heaven. We celebrated 34 years of marriage in August of last year as well!

I am posting this picture of the two of us because I wanted to stand with Bob one more time in remembering Who God is - and what God did for him those last 124 days of God's sufficient Healing and Grace in Bob's life.

• 2 Corinthians 12:9

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Oh, how Christ's power rested on Bob those last days! As we honor his life of integrity, his gifted singing abilities, and his love for Jesus, we also bring glory and honor to the Father who saved him and chose him and allowed him to be called 'a child of the King'!

We cannot honor Bob - or the LORD more - than to print out his favorite passage from scripture which became his 'theme passage' after being diagnosed with cancer so many years ago. The cancer that he endured did not win out - God did!

• 1 Peter 1:3-9

Praise to God for a Living Hope

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [emphasis mine]

Earth is not our home - we are only passing through! Bob received the ultimate goal of his faith!

Choosing JOY,

Stephanie