Jesus says in John 14:1-3, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.”
One day during the two weeks before I began my second year of Bible school when all of the work scholarship students were enjoying a picnic after working so hard to ready the college for in-coming students, I met the man God had prepared for me to marry. He was this strong, well built, blue-eyed, handsome blonde man who had an air of confidence about him that wasn’t arrogance. Our momentous meeting occurred as I slid into him at home plate during a game of soft ball. He was the catcher for the opposing team and was not about to give up a run. I, on the other hand, was not about to give up scoring a point. The results were torn ligaments in my right ankle and the beginning of a wonderful relationship that blossomed into a very committed marriage of unconditional love.
I never dreamed he would ask me out much less want to go “steady” with me. He was the first and only man I ever dated. Our love for each other grew quickly and steadily. We met in August, got engaged by the end of December and were married six months later on June 22, 1973.
From the end of May until two days before our wedding we were living apart in completely different states. He was working in a paper mill in Pennsylvania preparing a place for me to be with him. I was in Tennessee making my wedding dress and doing all those things that a bride does preparing for her groom.
The wait to be together again seem interminable. Hearing his voice over the phone each time he called only heightened my desire and excitement to see him and be with him. I cannot remember a more happier time in my life as this time!
We are to anticipate Christ’s return with those same feelings and emotions that a bride feels as she is waiting for her groom. You remember those feelings, don’t you? There’s the pure joy of knowing that someone loves you so much that he wants to spend every day of the rest of his life with you. There’s the impatience of hardly being able to wait another moment to see his face, feel his embrace, and hear him say “I love you!”.
The presence of anyone else in your life is nothing compared to the presence of your groom. He alone is the most important person in your life. Your heart is his completely! You are filled up to the brim and overflowing with so much love and all of the many hopes and dreams of your future together! The sun shines with a radiance you’ve never seen! The air is intoxicatingly sweet! The songs of the birds are more uplifting than ever before! Even the flowers are more a deeper hue and more beautiful! And it is all because of his love and the anticipation that you are feeling as you wait to see your groom.
As a widow I find myself not only anticipating seeing Jesus face to face, but also reuniting with my husband. No. We won’t have the same husband and wife relationship, but I think whatever relationship that we do have with each other will be far more glorious, absolutely perfect and filled with more joy than the one we experienced together here on this earth for 36 years, 4 months and 19 days.
Do you have a one-on-one love relationship with Jesus Christ? Is your life working? Have you ever realized that no matter how much good you do, there is still sin in your life? Have you ever confessed your sin to God and asked for His forgiveness? Would you like to ask Christ into your life? What do you have to lose?
If so, you can pray this simple prayer right now so that you, too, can live in anticipation of a love life eternal with God in heaven one day when either your life ends or He returns for you His bride.
“Thank you, God, for loving me and for sending your Son to die for my sins. I sincerely repent of my sins and receive Christ as my personal Savior. Now, as your child, I turn my entire life over to You. Amen.”
© 2013 by Candy Feathers. Used by permission. Visit her blog, Reflections From My Porch Swing for more of her writing and godly wisdom on life and widowhood.
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