“Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me O Lord; let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.” Psalm 40:11(NKJV)
This is a hard time for us here at New Life, especially for the Harvey family as we deal with the passing of our dear sister, Rita. Although the Bible says that the death of God’s saints is precious in His eyes, we are left with an empty place in the family here as Sister Rita has joined the eternal hosts in God’s presence. She fought a good fight, she finished the course, and she kept the faith. She has gone to her reward and all of us as children of God will sooner or later join her.
Now we must deal with our loss here by keeping our faith in God and trusting His tender mercies and loving kindness to sustain us day by day. We are preserved by the truth that all who live and believe in Him shall never die. To a child of God death is no longer “death” but is a passage from mortality to immortality, from the temporal to the eternal. Our mortal self is experiencing sorrow, pain, and separation but our immortal spirit rests in the hope of eternal life in Christ. That is the truth that preserves us in our hour of sorrow and loss.
The Holy Spirit is our Comforter that soothes our soul and dries our tears. We feel the pain but rest in the hope found in Jesus Christ that we will live forever. When we close our eyes in death here, we open them in the bright light of eternity. We are not without hope as those in the world but are assured that we are forever in the hands of a loving Father who will not let us go. Rita cannot come to us but we can all go to be with her. Comfort one another with these words.
Psalm 42:11 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”