Post #46 — My Final Post (November 24, 2023, written from a heavenly perspective)

 Post #46 — My Final Post (Written from a heavenly perspective and sent out November 24, 2023, just hours after transitioning to my final home) 

Dear friends, as of today, November 24, I am now breathing celestial air—without any supplemental oxygen whatsoever! God has just called me home!! Hallelujah!! Oxygen tanks and tubes are forever gone! My lungs are now SHOUTING OUT praises to God with full capacity… and without a single trace of IPF!! What an amazing experience this has been already! Words can’t even begin to describe it! 

I’ve asked my sister and able blog assistant, Ruth Ann, to send you this post in my absence. I am so very grateful to each of you for your partnership we’ve had in our journey together. What an incredible journey it has been! I trust that our partnership has been, in at least some small way, helpful to you in your walk with God.

To My Family and Friends

I have been deeply honored and gratified for all the love, encouragement, and support my family members have shown me during my time of journey with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. To my dear wife, Marilyn, you have been my greatest love, my most committed supporter and caregiver, and my most loyal mainstay. Dear, I love you deeply—more than you could ever possibly know! To my family members, you have been so gracious at keeping things reasonably “normal” when much around us was far from normal. You loved me and always had kind things to say, and I am very grateful for that. I love each one of you deeply! To my friends in this blog post series, you have been gracious in encouraging me to keep going. Some of you commented on the posts; others sent emails; still others told me verbally how much these posts meant to you. Each comment was greatly appreciated. And then to my friends in general, who I hope will somehow see these words, I love each of you also. The community of friends has been so very valuable in my journey from surviving to thriving. Thanks so much!

I Want You to Join Me

I shared in a previous post (Post #41) the story of the elderly woman who was preparing to soon leave for heaven and wanted her friends to know that “the best is yet to come!” Well, for me, that “best is yet to come” HAS COME! But I deeply desire that you also will know that “the best is yet to come!”

Throughout the course of this series of posts, you have graciously joined me on my medical journey from surviving to thriving. We’ve explored how a relationship with the Lord enables us to experience the fulfilled life right in the midst of chaotic circumstances. We’ve seen that it is truly possible to THRIVE right here and now, regardless of any chaos or turmoil we may be going through as we live centered in the eye of the storms of life. We never need to settle for just surviving!

But even better, knowing that the best is yet to come, you too can anticipate thriving forever in the presence of the Lord! The blessed hope we have of one day REALLY THRIVING will become a blessed reality when God calls us home to heaven to spend all of eternity with Him—our Ultimate Refuge!

To my fellow followers of Jesus, allow me to encourage you to:

  • Do all you can to get to know Jesus more deeply wherever you are in your journey.
  •  Love Him deeply with all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit.
  • Love others around you.
  • Stay true to the truth of God’s Word and seek to obey Him in all He shows you.
  •  Be quick to share with others what God has done in your life.
To my friends who have not yet placed your faith in Jesus, allow me to humbly share a few words with you. Let me plead with you to surrender your life to the Lord so that you, too, can know with certainty that the best is yet to come. I want to share eternity with you!

If you feel God tugging at your heart, please pray this prayer along with me. If you pray this prayer and mean it in your heart, God’s Word tells us that we indeed will share together with Jesus through all of eternity.

“Jesus, I thank you for loving me and offering me abundant life. I know you are the Son of God. I am sorry for my sins and believe that you died on the cross to pay the penalty for these sins. I believe in my heart that you rose again to give me new life. Please come into my life and help me live for you. Thanks for this gift of abundant and eternal life.”

 I trust you have prayed this prayer with me and that you can now look forward to “the best that is yet to come!” What an incredible “best” that will be … forever! Words can’t even begin to describe what that will be like!

Here are Scripture references for the prayer you just prayed. Check them out!

  •  Jesus, I thank you for loving me and offering me abundant life. (John 10:10)
  •  I believe that you are the Son of God (John 20:30-31)
  •  I am sorry for my sins and I believe that you died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins. (1 Peter 3:18)
  •  I believe in my heart that you rose again to give me new life. (1 Peter 1:3)
  • Please come into my life and help me live for You for the rest of my life. (John 1:12)
  • Thanks for this gift of abundant and eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)
Really Thriving

Friends, you have joined me on a journey from surviving to thriving, and I deeply praise God for your partnership in this journey. We’ve explored how a relationship with the Lord enables us to experience the fulfilled life in the midst of some chaotic circumstances. We’ve seen that it is possible to THRIVE on earth right now, no matter what life may bring your way.

But on top of all of this, I’ll be watching for you so that eventually we will REALLY THRIVE together. Up here in heaven where I now live, there is no more surviving … only THRIVING! Hallelujah!!

Hopefully, I’ll see you each one of you in heaven some day! I eagerly look forward to your coming! Until then, I send my love and ask that may God bless you mightily! “To God be the glory, great things He has done!”

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