so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope

so that you will not grieve
 like the rest who have no hope

 Psalm 116:15  The death of his faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight.

2 Corinthians 5:1-9  For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.  Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. 

On June 23, 2025 my mother breathed her last earthly breath, and opened her eyes to her Savior's face. I had the privilege (along with my daughter) of being at her side as she passed away. This past weekend was her funeral, her celebration of life. 

While I am thankful for her joy, and freedom from the cares of this life and from the struggles of an aging body, her homegoing has impacted me in unforeseen ways. I don't think I had realized how often I talked to her or visited her in her MN home until now, as I start to miss our conversations and know it may be a very long time before I go back to MN. And, of course, I will miss hearing her play the piano. 

The verses above are comforting, beyond a doubt. But still there is a void - a fuzzy brain - a lack of strength to finish tasks. 

10" x 10"

Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper

Mounted on 1.5" deep cradled panel, edges painted black

Click here to view on my website.

This painting was painted completely differently from most of my work. I just - painted. I didn't plan or think too much, at least to start. (I did overwork it at the end. If you ask an artist how to know if the work is finished, they will say, "Paint until you have overworked it, then stop 15 minutes before that.") I suspect my work will be impacted by the last month and more, and I hope it shows new strength and growth. One of my artist friends told me that he is praying for that for me. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.