What are the most important things in your life?  Is it your new car?  Maybe your thousand dollar phone?  Or your new computer?  Perhaps it is your job and the challenges or recognition it brings.  I hope it is none of those.  The priorities in your life should be J-O-Y.  That means Jesus first, yourself last and others in between.  I learned that mnemonic as a new Christian and took it for my own mantra.  Jesus is first!  After all, He died for me and has faithfully stood by me through some pretty rough times, including a massive stroke and the rehab that followed.  I could go through all of the names of Jesus here, but that is not my plan for the day.

What is really important to you is shown in your life.  My sister, who has not really spoken to me for months and basically told me not to call her, sent me a text to call her, so I did.  When I called, she was noticeably upset, so we talked about what was going on in her life.  She had gotten back some test results on her health and they could mean bad news.  She didn’t know yet and still doesn’t because her doctor hasn’t called to interpret them for her.  Nevertheless, she feared going to sleep because she fears death.  She wanted me to come into town and stay with her for a few days, so here I am.  Remember what I said:  J-O-Y.  She is one of the “others” even though she treated me as an outcast for so long.  We have to love others, even when they don’t seem to love us.  And I very well understood her fear since I have had the same fear myself, right after my stroke and again recently.  But God continues to show Himself faithful to me, showing up in the wee hours of the morning and whispering gently to me of His love and faithfulness, telling me that He is with me no matter what I am going through.  Likewise, He is with my sister, even though she says she doesn’t believe in my “religion.”  I ate lunch on Sunday with a friend from church and she reminded me that I don’t have a religion; I have a relationship!  That is what I will try to share with my sister as I stay with her during these days.  I want the opportunity to comfort her as God as comforted me so that she, too, can have that same relationship with the one that holds to you in the darkest night and tells you morning is coming, whether on this side of earth or in Heaven.  It’s all going to be okay.  Those very words are what my husband used to tell me each time he got new orders and I was distraught about moving yet again.  (25 times in 22 years of service). He always told me, “It’s going to be okay.”  And it was, eventually.  I got used to the next new place, and then it would be time to move on again and Harry would tell me the same thing again.  That is also what God tells me when I pray about friends who are dying of cancer or even about my own health.  “It’s all going to be okay.”  So, how does God know that?  Because He is faithful and He is the One who will make sure it’s okay because He will be walking the steps of that trial with me.  I covet your prayers, my friends, because I really need to share this message during this visit and I need to do it without being pushy or causing offense.  I am believing that the results of the health tests won’t be as bad as my sister expects, but even if they are, God will still be faithful to take her through it.  God doesn’t care for me any more than He does her, so my belief is that He can and will be there with her.

He calls us His children, and that is what I want my life to reflect—always, every day, in every way, not just when I am visiting my sister.  I am a child of the King, the Creator of the Universe, and I can hold on to his promises that it’s all going to be okay.

My hope is in God, and I pray that yours is, too.  Furthermore, I pray that this hope will shine in the heart of my sister before I leave to go home again, that she will not fear sleeping, or the news of a health report, because she will know once and for all that God has it all under His control.