I Have a Shelter ~ Sovereign Grace Music

"Come Weary Saints".  Sometimes that's a very appropriate name for me.  Sometimes I can feel like I'm at the very end of myself.  I think that's just where I need to be, too, because when I come to the end of myself, I find God.  He bids us come & find our rest in Him.  That doesn't always mean that the burden is removed, but He gives us strength & grace to bear up under it.  Sometimes, it is removed.  This will soon be the case for Christian.  We've just found out today that he is about to enter into his eternal rest.  His sufferings are almost done.  He has glorified God in them, & I have no doubt whatsoever that he will hear what every saint longs to hear from Him whom our souls love:  "Well done, good & faithful servant."  I've been overcome with different emotions this evening for this family that I've never met.  I've deeply felt their sorrow & grief.  I pray that God will give them strength, grace, & comfort.  Christian's suffering is ending, but having to go on without him begins a new phase of suffering for them.  My heart breaks for them in their loss.  I've been there, too, in a different way.  My Papaw died from lung cancer that metastasized to his brain when I was 16, & I feel his loss to this day.  I've feared & hated cancer ever since.  But after watching people like Christian suffer well through cancer, my fear is gone.  He - & others like him - have shown me that my afflictions here on earth are indeed "light" & "momentary" through their eternal perspective.  They've been focused on the reward that is waiting for them - Jesus Christ.  And this leads me to my other emotion this evening.  I've actually felt some envy, because Christian is going to soon meet our Savior face to face.  He will soon gaze into His loving eyes, hear His soothing voice, & feel His comforting embrace.  Oh, the wonder & bliss of that moment!  I don't grieve for him, because he is losing nothing & gaining everything.  But I do pray that his family will feel God's loving presence with them, that they will know that God is good & that He will never leave them.  That He will get them through this.  And I pray that God will continue to use Christian to show the world that He is worthy of all honor, praise, & worship.  I pray that God will bring the lost to salvation through Christian's & his family's suffering.  Please pray, too.  And remember that if you're going through a storm & you're a Christian, Jesus is your shelter.