Life After Death

For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.  Psalm 56:13

Dodging a bullet, crawling out unharmed from a burning car crash, outsmarting the maniacal murderer, outrunning the man-eating lion or space alien  . . . yes, these Hollywood trappings used to define my idea of being delivered from death.

But now I know God delivers me from death in two very different ways.

First, as He did for my husband, Bruce, the day will come when God will gather me to Himself. I will breath my last breath here on earthc and take the next one in the refreshing, clear, bright atmosphere of heaven. I'll be delivered from death for eternity!

But the second way God delivers me from death is in the here and now. It's what I live on a daily basis

---there is live after death for the widow! 

When Bruce died, I couldn't imagine what the rest of my life would be. It was an empty chalkboard. It was my 44th birthday. What would I do for the next 44 years of my life? I felt like I was cut in half! How could anyone exist if cut in half?

But slowly, God brought me back to life. Truly, I had been cut in half, for scripture does say "the two shall become one"---but half of me was still alive---and God was with me. God remained. He said He would never leave me nor forsake me, and although I often forgot that promise of His, it was true. He was the living vine, and I was a branch that had been pruned back. (John 15)

Widows survive. Better still, we branch out again. Eventually. New life begins to flow; fresh starts, new ventures, and unexplored regions of ourselves begin to uncurl. God delivers us from the death of our mate, and as we branch out and grow, someday we will blossom and lift our heads to the light of life.