I just received news that my good friend’s mother passed away.  God’s answer to our prayers for healing were to take her home.  I remember this from when my mom passed and the anger I felt when God didn’t heal her the way I expected.  It is amazing even in our sorrow how selfish we can be and forget that Christ knows best.  I am in prayer for my friend as he is traveling back to the United States from overseas, and I am praying that Jesus is meeting him at his pain right now.  I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to be so far away and know that your mom is no longer with you.  It was unbearable for me with my mom and I was there to see her shortly after she had passed away.  His mom was someone I knew very well and she was an awesome woman and the shock that I am still feeling is making this seem surreal.   My feelings are locked up. I know so many people have been praying for her, but ultimately God made the final decision of what was best.  I cannot release this numbness as it is sitting on my chest.  My heart goes out to my friend and his brother and my prayer is that Christ will break down and through their doors of numbness and meet them with his peace.  I pray that they will come to Christ for his hand of comfort and healing and they will draw closer to each other and know that Jesus is Lord.  The numbness we feel usually leads us to sin, but this is just another lie, Our God is the one and only true God, he is a God of Grace and Healing.  This means we must fight through the feeling of numbness and prepare ourselves to accept the feelings of grief that are to come.  We are supposed to grieve those that we lose, but we must grieve differently, for when we lose one of God’s Beloved here on Earth, our faith lets us know that they are rejoicing and loving on Jesus in Heaven.  As for me, I went from believing Heaven was real to Hoping Heaven was for real.  The loss challenged my faith and put it truly to the test.  My faith, 3 years and some months later, is stronger that it has ever been and my hope in Heaven is anchored by the reality of my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Our focus, my friends, should not be to live life to fulfill our needs, rather we should extend our Crown of Life and see How far we can shine the Light that Jesus gives each of us to share!!  One Love-One King-One Christ!!