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As I was praying about this subject, i wasnt sure where to post it..and the Lord led me here.

I come from a very large, very close family. As the years have passed, especially in recent years, most of my family members have passed. There are very few of us left here in this life. I know how hard it is to say goodbye to those we love.

In reading some of the posts in these forums, i was led to share this with you. Several years ago, one of my uncles had just undergone open-heart surgery. During the days and weeks that followed he suffered from a stroke, pneumonia, failed gallbladder that had turned gange-green and caused his body to be septic, surgery to remove that....

He had to be given blood several times to replace what he had lost. Our family members donated several times. During those weeks that turned into months...we prayed. We prayed for his healing...we prayed for a miracle. At a family get-together, which is what we did often, to refresh, uplift and pray for one another during this time..the Lord spoke to us.

I do believe He can and does reach down and touch those with what can only be a miracle of healing. Ive seen it first hand. But there are also times we fail to see that the true miracle in our loved ones passing is the miracle of true life.......eternal life, they are now experiencing.

Thats not to say there wont be pain...there is....there is always going to be that longing to hear their voice, see that precious smile. Even Jesus cried with those who mourned for Lazarus...because He felt their pain and gutt-wrenching sorrow. In the end, though, there is hope. The miracle of life is just beginning for them.

For those who dont know the Lord Jesus, pray for them. He knows their hearts. He knows how to reach them. They are His too. Pray for them while they are here. Speak truth and God's mercy and love to them while you have time. He KNOWS their hearts.

My son is in the Army. Every time he comes home for a visit and Im taking him to the airport, or at the end of every conversation we have he says, "Mom, dont say goodbye....say see ya later" That is the same hope and the true miracle of God's love for us. One day, we will see that precious smile again.

While I was volunteer visiting in a nursing home, I understood that workers there could get very attached to ones they cared for. And so, it could be emotionally hard on them when their special ones got hurt in a fall or had complications or died. But I understood that God could make me strong in His love so problems and deaths would not get the better of me, so that no matter how things went for any patient, I would keep on being loving and cheering with every person, so I could help each person have the best possible end of one's life. And when one died, this meant I could go on to love the next one or ones.

So . . . Mom . . . one person dying can free us to love on to others. We can grow in loving with someone special in Jesus, and then we can take this to others.

In the church where I am, there is a lady who is a wife and very beautiful in love > in a few minutes of sharing with her, I can get obviously fixed up in the Holy Spirit . . . so then I can go around to others and be better in loving and sharing. Now it has gotten to be like I have gotten beyond her . . . like, in a way, she has died and I have been freed to move on to love various others.

I think of how Jesus cast Legion out of that man, and he wanted to stay with Jesus (Mark 5:1-20, specifically verses 18&19). Well, Jesus said, uh-uh . . . "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." (in Mark 5:19). So, the one who is best for us may be the one to free ourselves from, so we can spread that loving to others.