Persistent to the End ... God Never Gives Up On Us
Have you ever lost a loved one and fear for their eternity?
By Bev Holmes-Brown
When my lovely Nan passed on I experienced death for the third time in my life. I’d been ten when my great grandma died and not really tuned in to questions of eternity. I was eighteen when my Pops died. He was a larger than life character, the heart and soul of family gatherings and I felt his loss deeply. Desperate to hold on to him all I knew was to try and seek him out through Mediums.
When Nan passed on I was twenty-three and a new Christian.
Nan was the craziest character. She had worked hard as a cleaner all her life, bringing up her six children alone. She lived in a not-so-desirable council estate in Hendon, London and carried a brick in her handbag in case of muggers. We’d tried to get her to move but she adamantly refused to leave her old friends.
As a large-hearted socialite she attended every pensioner’s dinner in her locality; the Baptists, Salvos, Anglicans, Methodists and Jewish communities regularly fed and entertained her. She smoked like a trooper and had a heart of gold. One of my favourite memories comes from a night I took her out for a meal in our village pub. By the end of the night she’d drawn a crowd and had them in stitches. We left with half the room knowing that she wrapped her bingo winnings up in an old pair of under garments and hid them in her hoover bag in case she was ever burgled!
I hadn’t known much about Nan’s faith, and don’t remember her going to church or even speaking about God. When I told her I’d discovered Jesus I was amazed when she patted my arm saying, “I knew you would lovey, I’ve been praying for you.”
As the only Christian in my family I was given Nan’s bible and a pile of daily reading booklets when she passed. If there were any questions about my Nan’s eternity they were answered the moment I opened these books. Each section bookmarked or highlighted spoke of Salvation. The last words Nan had read from them were about God’s love for the world in sending His son; inviting Jesus into her life and the need to be born again... I knew such an incredible peace as I read, a peace that carried me through her funeral and beyond, surprising my family and anyone who knew me.
God loves us so much that He will never miss an opportunity to draw us to himself, even in the last moments of our life He will be reaching for us.
The concept of death has many depths. I learned, when I first became a Christian, that Jesus had overcome death at the cross. That man had allowed death to become part of his journey when he chose to know good and evil ... and that only God could reverse that.
By the time my Nan died I understood death to be the doorway to eternity; a place of passing from the constraints of this sin-ravaged world into another. And that the location of our eternity is based upon the decisions we make during our lifetime. We don’t get to come back once we’ve moved on as I’d previously thought.
Too many of my loved ones have passed without leaving any kind of assurance of their future. A number even continuing, to the end, to blame God for everything bad thing they encountered in life, or accusing Him of heartlessness in the face of attrocities. There’s an inner ache when I think of them that is frequently countered by a voice of faith.
I am persuaded that grace and mercy are such an integral part of the character and nature of God that he loves even those who reject and scorn him, never ceasing to call them close so that he can ease the burden of their experiences.
As Titus famously reminds us in chapter 3 verses 4 and 5: ‘when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared He saved us. Not because of our own good works or righteousness but because of His mercy He washed away our sins, and renewed us through the Holy Spirit (NLT & NKJV).
Bev Holmes-Brown lives in Brisbane, Australia. In 2001 she began Link-Zone, a Christian Resource ministry with a mandate to “Bring the Body together in specific interest areas and to Believe and Pray for the Reformation of Values, Systems and Wisdom.“
In the last nine years Link-Zone has focussed on praying for governments, communities and ministries. ‘We are currently transitioning,’ Bev says, ‘believing the Lord wants us to begin to tell people’s stories. There are so many people living amazing and victorious lives for God against the odds, we want to hear from them, to understand their hearts and glean the treasures that God has laid up in their hearts for our own breakthroughs. Of course we will continue to feature our favourite columnists and will not give up on praying but we believe this is a season where God wants us to identify and clarify the frontlines that need our support. It’s exciting to venture into whatever He lays upon our heart.
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When my lovely Nan passed on I experienced death for the third time in my life. I’d been ten when my great grandma died and not really tuned in to questions of eternity. I was eighteen when my Pops died. He was a larger than life character, the heart and soul of family gatherings and I felt his loss deeply. Desperate to hold on to him all I knew was to try and seek him out through Mediums.
