Welcome to Doing Life Podcast

Speaker 1

Hey , welcome to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are so pumped that you're tuning into this podcast . It has been designed for people just like you . We wanna do life with you , share our wins , our defeats , our ups and our downs , in hopes that you'll grow closer to God and to the people that you love in your life . Sit back and enjoy today's podcast . Hello everybody .

Speaker 2

Hey , everyone , welcome to Doing .

Speaker 1

Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are pumped to have you guys with us today . Today's going to be really , really good . I believe it's going to bring healing to so many people . I believe that you're not watching this by an accident or mistake

Speaker 1

. I believe that there's going to be some things that we share with you about death and also grief . That's going to prepare you for things that are to come , but also heal the heart of those who have lost someone . So welcome , so glad to have you today .

Speaker 2

That's right . We've been praying for you , we're believing God's best for you , and we really pray that this podcast will be a blessing to you . So I think it's going to be good .

Speaker 1

Amen . If you're new to our podcast , please take a moment very quickly and hit the subscribe button . If you're on YouTube , hit the alert icon . We want you to be the first to get the content . You know , we started this podcast a couple of years ago and we had one goal in mind to help people grow closer to God and also closer to the people that God has placed in their life . And by you guys' comments and you reaching out , I think that the goal is being accomplished . I sense people growing closer to .

Speaker 1

God . I sense marriage is being restored , and this is not just a relationship podcast , it's a personal growth podcast where we really just help people grow , because what we found is that if you get better , your marriage will get better . Absolutely You'll get better . Everything around you will get better . So thank you in advance for making an investment to get better .

Speaker 1

We got this Devo that we would love you to get a hold of . It's called Living at a Nine . We've basically taken everything that we know about studying God's word , spending time with God daily , and we've made this journal just for you . If you want one of these , jump over to our website I think the website is in the show notes and Living at a Nine is simply you making a decision that you want to be intimate with God , that you want to be closer to God in . This devotional is just a tool . It's not the end . It's the beginning of a tool that we can put in your hands to make sure that you spend quality time with God every single day . Reading the back of it , it says each devotional is designed to meet you right where you are , with relatable insights , personal stories and practical steps to help you grow . We would love to help you grow closer to Jesus .

Speaker 1

This year , if you're ever in Florida , come hang out with us , worship with us at Alive Church . We got a conference that's coming up in November . For more information about those things , you can check out our show notes as well . I want to jump into today , sweetheart , and I want to talk about navigating grief a guide to overcoming the loss and finding healing . Talk about navigating grief a God to overcoming the loss and finding healing . I wanted to do this podcast today because I recently lost my mom , and when I say lost , I didn't lose her .

Speaker 1

I know exactly where she is . She's with Jesus . But what I mean is that she transitioned . She's no longer here with us , and this was a painful moment , a sobering moment .

Speaker 1

Mom , she was diagnosed with cancer back in 2020 , and she passed on November 25th of 2024 , so just several months ago and it was weird for me . It was weird because there's some things I believe about the Bible that I did not see come to pass . I believe that when we lay hands on the sick , they shall recover . I believe that God is Jehovah Rapha that means he , a God who heals these . So we believed God for four years that she would be healed . I also believe that the number of a man's days should be at least 70 years according to the Bible , three score and 10 . And she was right at 69 . So we were really just standing on the word .

Speaker 1

And so when we started at the end , kind of seeing her transition , and I was in a very weird place it almost felt like I wanted to believe God for her to be healed , but there was a part of me that was ready to see the suffering end . Yes , and I believe that there are some people that I'm not alone , that you've had a grandparent or a parent that you watched in pain , and I saw my mom fight the good fight of faith in a way that I'd never seen anybody fight like this . I mean , she stood on the word , she didn't allow . She was so positive , she was so encouraging . There would be times where you would call her wanting to build her up , and she would build you up and I was . I was conflicted because I wanted to see her healed and I believe that is a promise from God , but I was not happy to see her go . I was happy to see the pain come to an end and I know that in heaven there's no sorrow and there's no pain . What was your feeling about that moment ?

Speaker 2

I felt , you know , I had a little bit of conflict as well . My conflict was I felt like I know when , you know , she went into the hospital , and when she went to the hospital , I just remember spending time with the Lord and feeling like I felt like I knew that she wasn't going to come out . It's really hard to say even now . It's conflicting because , according to my faith , it's like no , I'm going to call things that be , not as though they are . I'm going to just speak faith . I'm going to speak life , I'm going to declare the word of God .

Speaker 1

Because we've seen so many people be healed by that .

Speaker 2

Yes .

Speaker 1

But at the same time , we've seen people not be healed .

Speaker 2

Yes .

Speaker 1

And the reality of healing is that there is a mystery in healing . Yes , there are some things that don't make sense and at that crossroads you can either get bitter , and say God , I'm angry at you . The most humble thing you could do is say palms up . Nevertheless . I don't understand it , but I still trust you I don't like it , but I still trust you .

Speaker 1

And death is a funny thing . It really is , Because what I realized through my mom's passing is that we all have to go . There's only a couple people who've been able to just what would be the word Transcend .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

Like who is it ?

Speaker 2

Enoch , enoch and Elijah . Maybe Elijah had a chariot , yeah .

Speaker 1

And then , of course , jesus was resurrected , and then the ascension on a cloud and rolled

Understanding Death from a Biblical Perspective

Speaker 1

out , but that's all , that's all we got . So that's the anomaly . So , but this is the sobering part about death is that every single person is going to go that way . Yeah , and Every single person is going to go that way , yeah , and sometimes , when you're living life , because I hadn't had somebody pass away in a long time , that was real close to me .

Speaker 2

I had some friends .

Speaker 1

Yeah , I'm talking about like a parent or a grandparent . Yeah , I think I lost my last grandparent when I was 19 . So my grandfather on my dad's side I never met . He passed before I was born . My grandmother on my dad's side passed when I was about 10 , my grandfather about 12 on my mom's side and my grandmother about 19 .

Speaker 1

So I'm late 40s . So here it is , all that span and my mom passes away and all of a sudden you realize that , okay , this ain't forever . And that's the problem Many young people . They're living like that's forever . They don't want to talk about eternity . I don't care about heaven or hell right now , because they're so consumed with the right now but , tomorrow's not promised .

Speaker 1

I mean , it is promised to a certain extent , but it's not promised at the same time . So what I'm saying is that we're only here for a brief moment , and I think what we learned as well is that death is a natural occurrence , and it's actually I learned over the years that death is actually a blessing . And the reason that I say that , because I want to give perspective about death because there's so many people who have fear of death or they don't understand death and they don't understand the afterlife , and we want to help them today .

Speaker 1

But what I learned years ago is that death is actually a gift from God to us , because , if not , mankind would have went on possibly living forever without him . So in the garden , remember , there was two trees . There was a tree of knowledge of good and evil , then there was the tree of life , and so as soon as Adam and Eve ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , they had sin in their life . And so , instead of them finding the next tree , the tree of life , and living forever separated from God , what did he do ? He got them out of the garden , away from the tree of life , because he wanted them to die . He wanted them to die physically so they would not be forever separated from him . And so death was actually something that is . It don't seem like a gift , but it's a gift so that he can give us a new body and that we can come from a natural world to an eternal world , from a natural world to a spiritual world .

Speaker 1

And so it's good that man die once , because after that the judgment , but after that , of course , we enter into the fullness of eternal life where we can be with Jesus and no sorrow , so forth and so on , and so a lot of this man was never created to die and that's why it's painful . That was never God's intention for us . We were supposed to be in Eden , also known as paradise , and we were supposed to tend the garden and extend the territory and have this . We didn't even need to have clothes on back then .

Speaker 2

Come on , we didn't have any abortion , no divorce no sin . Before they ate of the fruit of the tree . They were in obedience to God . They were in communion with God .

Speaker 1

The .

Speaker 2

Bible says he walked with them in the cool of the day , and so they had a great relationship with God . But when sin came , it separated them from God , and so that's where we are . Well , we were in a separate , a separated state , but Jesus came . We're reunited .

Speaker 1

Thank you , jesus , but in death we will be again how God once created us , From the original intent . So we've been redeemed spiritually , but now we need a new body . Yes , so every single person has to wrestle with the reality that our bodies are decaying because of sin . It was never the intention of God , but now he made a way , a second chance , God , for us to be redeemed , bought , paid for with a price . Our spirit man , we accept Jesus . We're born again spiritually . We can renew our soul , renew our mind . The last thing is is that we need a new body . Because of sin , this body's going to decay and we can see it . It's not the same as it was in our 20s . It's not the same in our 50s , 60s , 70s , 80s . And when our spirit and soul leave this physical body , God is going to give us a new body .

Speaker 1

For those of us who are born again . We will live forever with him in the new Jerusalem , and that's an exciting thing . But the reality of death is just . It's for many people . They get stuck in grief . So I just wanted to open up this conversation and just say have you lost a lot of people over your life and , if so , how did you deal with grief back then

Personal Experiences with Fear of Death

Speaker 1

versus how do you deal with it now ? Maybe that's a good place to start .

Speaker 2

That's really good because my answer is yes . I've lost a lot of people and most of them were in that front , the front part of my life before I knew Jesus .

Speaker 2

And it was really hard on me because I didn't have any answers . And so I lost my dad at six years old . I lost my uncle , who I lived with , who was a father figure to me , at maybe six , seven years old . I lost my grandfather , my grandmother who raised me . I lost my aunt , who was like a mother to me .

Speaker 2

So I lost a lot of people at an early age and at the time , as an unbeliever , I thought that death was just . I mean , I heard people say . I remember asking my mom when my dad at his funeral , and his body was there in a coffin , and I don't think I remember her telling me he's in heaven now . But I had no clue what that meant . I just it didn't mean anything to me because I , you know , I didn't actually remember it today Cause I was so confused Like what does that mean ? Um , and so even after my grandmother died , I was 12 years old . I remember thinking I was terrified of death because it was like I thought you just everything turned black and you cease to exist . Yeah , it's just nothingness .

Speaker 1

I think that there are some atheists that believe that and I think that there are some people who and man , what's the purpose of all of this ?

Speaker 2

Yeah , that's really sad , it's very sad .

Speaker 1

It was depressing to me . There's a lot of people like I heard somebody say this yeah , that's really sad . It was depressing to me . Believe in a virgin universe , but they can't believe in a virgin birth .

Speaker 1

You got to choose your miracle because you're going to have faith to believe that 7 billion , 8 billion , 9 billion . You just add years onto it and say well , this happened a long time ago , well , you got to have faith for that . You can't prove that , you can't see it . So I'd rather have faith in a living Messiah who raises the dead and heals the sick , even today .

Speaker 2

Wow , I don't understand how people can't live in you know , believe in God , just when you think of a spirit realm . You know we're talking about death , and you know so . You're either going to cease and become nothing . You know what happens to your spirit . You just cease to exist . But if you believe that you're more than just flesh and blood , you know like you're a spirit , you know you .

Speaker 1

So we understand , you guys , that there's a whole lot of ideologies about the afterlife , whether it be karma or whether it be cease to exist . We have a biblical worldview and we believe there's one God and that one God gave his one son . His name was Jesus , and thank God that we have the word , because since we have a Bible , we can understand things about the here , the now and the afterlife . So we're going to give you a biblical perspective , because that is our worldview and that's our basis of what we believe . But I want to go back to the part where you said that death . You were scared of death . Can you talk to me a little bit more ?

Speaker 1

Because I think there are some people that are scared of death . And even my mom . She fought such a good fight but coming up through the last days , maybe because she was in pain . But she would just tell some of my family just hold me you know , just hold me . I wouldn't say it was a fear , but maybe it was a pain , maybe it was a mix . But can you just talk about that fear that you had a little bit ?

Speaker 2

Yeah , I , you know I will go into . When I was fighting cancer and I , there was a point that I became , I think , afraid of dying . I had these thoughts of the enemy just bombarded 24-7 with these really it was an attack of the enemy just you're going to die , you're going to die , you're going to die . And I knew that . I didn't want to believe that , but it was this personal fight that I had and I couldn't even bring myself to . I was fearful and I couldn't even bring myself to tell you about it because I didn't want to speak , those give into it yeah it was just like oh my gosh , what do I ?

Speaker 1

do with this . It was a lie , but lies sound real when you're at your lowest , exactly .

Speaker 2

And so in that time , what I had to do , I realized , oh my gosh , I'm afraid of death , I'm afraid of dying , and I had to examine why . I'm trying to talk to God and find out things . But one of the things that really helped me was that I began to say , okay , well , what am I afraid of If I did die ? What's going to happen ? Okay , I would go to heaven , I would be with Jesus , there's nothing wrong with that . And then I , what would happen to my husband , my kids ? Yes , they would mourn , but they would live , they have Jesus , they would be okay . So I had to be really real with what's the worst thing that's going to happen .

Speaker 2

Now , another thing that really comforted me was , as far as just dying , what's going to happen is . I went back and started listening to other believers who had near-death experiences where they died , talked to Jesus , went to heaven , came back , and I heard so many . I mean they all sound the same , they see a light , they see family members , loved ones are welcoming them in . And then I heard a few people tell the testimony where they had a choice , and it's like I'm actually not a few , a lot of people . They had a choice Do you want to go back or do you want to stay and a ?

Speaker 1

lot of them said I want to stay .

Speaker 2

Yeah , they wanted to stay . In fact , one man came back and I'm kind of moved by his testimony because he came back . But he's been suffering from depression because he said he was crying , saying I don't want to be here .

Speaker 1

I wanted to go back , yeah .

Speaker 2

Yeah , he , he did , he wanted to go back . And all of these things began to speak to me . I heard that you know , a lot of people say in their testimonies that they were given the choice to stay or go back , given the choice to stay or go back . And then I heard it dawned upon me that some of the people that I was believing for maybe you know they were loved ones , that I had some pastors and some people I know they were believers . Why did they die Like what happened ? Now ?

Speaker 2

I'm like , oh my gosh , if they have the choice and wanted to stay , will they stay ? Can you imagine the amount of believers who would have an experience where they had the choice to stay with Jesus or come back to earth ? We don't know how good it is with him . And so it kind of changed my perspective as , in number one , when I do lose loved ones before their time and they were believers , oh wow , lose loved ones before their time and they were believers , oh wow , maybe they decided to stay . And then , number two , if I do , they're in a better place , they're in a far . They they describe the outer body experience .

Speaker 2

I've heard people say , quote , unquote we think this is life and like what it feels like to be alive , they said once they lifted , they saw themselves above their own body , but they felt so real and so alive to all of their senses . They were like this is not living and it's almost like this indescribable , almost addiction that they had to this feeling of being out of their body and explaining what heaven was like . And when they saw loved ones , all of that totally changed my perspective of death and now I'm like , wow , I am not afraid to die . This is a promotion . This is someplace that we are all going . We want to be there one day . Now I don't want to go before . I need to be there . I want to finish my assignments in the earth .

Speaker 1

We have a lot of purpose here , but I'm not afraid to die . I'm not afraid to die . We have a lot of purpose here . Don't want to die before my time . I'm not afraid to die , and it's just the revelation of what the afterlife and what heaven is like and how good God is , and he has things that are prepared for us .

Speaker 1

The Bible is a very interesting read . I've been reading it now for over two decades and it doesn't give a whole lot of detail about heaven . It gives a little bit about the new Jerusalem and the streets that are made with gold and the pearl that's on the front gate and it gives some things that you're like , okay , that's kind of cool , and in my father's house there are many mansions , but it don't go to details . I believe we're going to be completely blown away by the atmosphere

Biblical Truths About Grief and Eternity

Speaker 1

of heaven and the new Jerusalem , to be more accurate , like a new heaven , a new earth is going to come later on and we will reign forever with Jesus in what will be like a new earth .

Speaker 1

I just believe that that's going to be an amazing moment that no eye have seen or ear have heard Now , those people who've had that encounter and God let them come back to tell their story . Thank God for them . Yes and so , but that's the account of the people who are saved , those who accept Jesus , because I think you've also heard other accounts I know I have of people who were not saved and they had an out-of-body experience and it wasn't going to heaven , it was going to hell .

Speaker 2

It's the opposite .

Speaker 1

Can you talk to me about that a little bit ?

Speaker 2

Oh yeah , I mean , I've heard stories and testimonies of people who felt like they were falling , people who actually say that they have been in hell and they've experienced they say the smell that was so like you couldn't even it was so bad the smell , the sound of shrieking and crying and people crying out , and there were . I've heard several testimonies of that , but they all testimonies were saying that they called on Jesus and when they called on Jesus , and when they called on Jesus , they were snatched out . I actually have my own testimony of that . I was unsaved .

Speaker 2

I was in college , in my maybe 21 . And I was laying down on a couch , like going to sleep , and I felt I was began to be suffocated . I couldn't breathe and I had this going on and off in my life . I didn't know what it was . I thought it was just something dark and evil , but I didn't know anything about God or anything . But I laid on my couch and I couldn't breathe and I saw my eye before like I was wide awake , and then I saw this just complete darkness come to the side of my eye and my face and after that it was just . I saw complete darkness and it was like a hand was over my mouth and I could not breathe and I fell myself , falling and falling and falling . So I just never stopped falling and I didn't know what to do .

Speaker 2

I was terrified , but at the time I had been studying the Lord's prayer and I was in conversation with someone and they said what you don't know , the Lord's prayer . And I remember I don't know anything about God , I didn't grow up in church , I don't even know anything about Jesus . But they said well , this is the Lord's prayer . You got to know the Lord's prayer , you know , and I memorized the Lord's prayer right before that and I just started saying dear Father , which art in heaven , hallowed be thy name . And before I was done with that prayer I woke up . So terrified , I went upstairs , I told my roommate , but I didn't know at the time because a couple of years would go by before I would receive Jesus . I didn't know at the time , but I'm like Jesus . I thank you because I don't know . I could have died that night .

Speaker 1

Wow , were you saying that prayer out loud or under your breath ?

Speaker 2

I was saying it under my breath because I couldn't breathe .

Speaker 2

In my heart , in my mind , I was calling on Jesus and the crazy thing that happened was this is crazy , but the night after that happened we had just had I don't know if it was before or happened one of our , a person who came in my freshman class , a young , you know , a young boy , had just died in his sleep and I thought I mean that terrified me . I was like , oh my gosh , is this ? Did this happen to him ? I don't know if it did or whatever , but I'm just saying it was such a wake up call for me .

Speaker 1

Yeah , I want to give a little bit of theology , just a tad bit of perspective for the person that says well , why would a loving God send people to hell ? I always say that God doesn't send people to hell . People's rejection of the Savior sends them to hell , because hell was never created for people .

Speaker 2

It was created for the devil and a third of the angels that rebelled against God .

Speaker 1

However , hell is the place where God doesn't exist , so a person who says , no , I don't want God , I don't believe in Jesus . God gives us a free will , so he allows you to go to a place that he's not . Hell is the absence of God . God is light , so hell is dark . God is joy , so hell is painful . God is sounds of jubilee . Hell is sounds of gnashing of teeth .

Speaker 1

And so , really , there's nothing in hell that you want . So to me , that doesn't scare me . It gives me more ammunition to preach the gospel . It makes me want to make sure that we preach this gospel around this nation for the rest of my life , until every single , every breath that I have , so we can depopulate hell and populate heaven .

Speaker 1

Now back over to our segment , which is about grief , and so , for me , we look at death as a promotion , as a believer , as a graduation . So for the person that says I don't know if my loved one was saved , my advice to you would be well then , just pray and hope to God that they are , but at the same time , use that as motivation to make sure that all of your family members are saved Like I didn't know .

Speaker 1

I don't think you know for sure about your dad . You feel like he was , but you don't know for sure you hope so , but now that should be a fire to where .

Speaker 1

I'm going to make sure my brother , my cousins and everybody knows . I need to know for sure . Do you know Jesus ? Yes , and that's the motivation . So we can't change the past motivation . So we can't change the past , we can only change the present and the future . And so I mean we can get into all kinds of different things , because you know , my mom died after a good life , 69 years of just a good life . Then there's tragedies that happen , there are things that happen and you're like man , why did that ?

Speaker 2

happen .

Speaker 1

I mean I remember when I was in ninth grade my best friend killed himself and I mean , looking back on it , I mean you know we've all dealt with a level of that . You know your brother Tabitha has two brothers . Most people know the one but the one who's not living any longer . He took his life by suicide , maybe what ?

Speaker 1

was that five , six years ago , you know . So we've had that . I've had best friends of mine . One died of brain cancer , One just died , so it was a slow thing . Another one just died instantly . These are guys from my wedding party . We all have to come to the place where we look death and we look in our Bible and we say , God , give me a perspective of this . For the things that I don't understand , I put my palms up and say God , nevertheless , I trust you , but for what your word says , I believe you for your word , and so for me , I wanted to share with people a little bit of perspective and a few scriptures that I stood on . Now I had to do something that I never thought that I would do , and that was preach my mom's funeral and honestly , it was a great celebration of life . It was my relatives . They had a great celebration of life .

Speaker 2

It was .

Speaker 1

My relatives . They had a choir and they brought joy .

Speaker 2

I don't think it could have gone better . They brought joy .

Speaker 1

They brought perspective . Yeah , and it was tough . It was tough . I mean I literally the next couple of weeks you could feel the absence of my mom . You could feel that her energy was no longer here . It's so weird . It was almost like every Sunday after I preach I get a text man , that was good , because she's watching online that wasn't there any longer . I couldn't respond to text any longer . So it's okay to grieve . I always tell people please grieve , but we don't grieve like those who have no hope . When I preached her funeral , there was a few scriptures that I went over and I wanted to share them with our audience today and hopefully this will bring some comfort to you . John 11 , 25 through 26, . It says Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life . He who believes in me , though he die , he shall live , and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die . And then he said do you believe this ? Is there anything ? Anything you know ? I just want to see . I'm gonna read a few .

Speaker 2

I love that . Never die , because we don't , you know , we it's just like our bodies die . We are a spirit , we have a soul , right , and we live in a body . Our bodies die right but our spirit lives on .

Speaker 1

We are a spirit well , we always say that the real part of us is our spirit , it is not the earth , and so that's why racism is whack , and you know it's just . You're judging me based upon my earth . You're judging me based upon my melanin , but I'm more than my melanin .

Speaker 2

Right .

Speaker 1

So the spirit part of us and our soul will go on , and so what Jesus to me is saying is that if you believe in me , you shall never die , so eternal life doesn't start when you leave your body Eternal life starts when you accept Jesus and when you say , jesus , I confess you , I believe in you , come into my life .

Speaker 1

Eternal life starts for you now . So , even though your body is going to fade away and you're going to get a new body , you keep on living and I think that that brings a level of comfort . Like those who are saved , my mom didn't die . She transitioned , she graduated . She didn't cease from existing . She still exists . She just transferred realms .

Speaker 1

She went from the natural to the spiritual . What do you take from this ? 1 Thessalonians 4.13 , it says but I don't want you to be ignorant , brother , concerning those who've fallen asleep , lest you sorrow as though who have no hope . One translation says so that you don't grieve like those who have no hope .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I love what you just said . It's like it's not that we're not going to grieve . We should grieve . We will miss mom . You know we will miss everything about her . But it's not for us to be hopeless . It's not like a sad like oh my gosh , this is something terrible that happened . It's just like , wow , I wish I could hear her voice again , but actually I will . But just in , you know , in another , in another life , so to say , our relationship isn't over , it's just maybe paused for a moment .

Speaker 1

For those of you all who have lost loved ones , the revelation is this is that if they died in Jesus , they're having a good time , absolutely . Now you might be sad , but they're having a good time . They're having the best time of their life . They're worshiping , they're meeting , they're seeing other family members . There's no pain , there's no sorrow , and when you understand that , you grieve .

Speaker 1

Yeah but don't grieve for the rest of your life , don't ? What I'm saying is that there comes a place I don't know if it's three months , four months , I can't give you a time but there shouldn't be like this man . Three years go by and I've still got this depression and this weight and this anxiety . I feel like then you're grieving like the world .

Speaker 1

You're not grieving like a child of God , Because a child of God that grieves another child of God . I miss you , but I know you better off than me . Yes , you know , Paul said it this way . It's it's , it's it's game for me to die , but it's , you know , for me to stay . You know what I'm saying . What he's saying is better for me to go , but because I got purpose , I'm going to stay with you . So listen , if you're going to grieve , you're not grieving that your loved one got promoted . You're grieving the fact that you still here . You still here and you without them for a season . But I'm going to get over that grief because I realized that it's short Right .

Speaker 2

I mean when you think about you know we're all sons and daughters of God and when we go , when we are elevated to heaven , when you think about the family members that you will see again , the friends who will be there to greet you . You know , when you finally transition , it's going to be amazing Like you're going to be able to see those people again .

Speaker 1

My mom always loved family reunions . She established our family reunion , the Tucker Dobson family reunion , on her side 44 years ago and it's still going strong today . She's now having a dope family reunion , absolutely . 2 Corinthians 5.8 says this we are confident , yes , well-pleased . Rather to be absent from the body

Dying in Faith Despite Unanswered Prayers

Speaker 1

is to be present with the Lord .

Speaker 2

I think that's . It is what it is To be absent from the body . It is what it says . So , as a believer , you know again we don't cease to exist , but we are with Jesus .

Speaker 1

Revelations 21 and four says and God will wipe every tear from their eyes , there shall be no more death , nor sorrow , nor crying .

Speaker 2

Now that's the part that I love , because sometimes when we have loved ones , especially if they've been in accidents or maybe they were sick before they died , and sometimes we just see them in this almost fallen state , in their sickly state , we see them maybe broken , hooked up to machines and tubes and things like that , and that is sad , that is grieving , like the world grieves , but we have to understand that there's no tears in heaven where they are . They have new bodies , they're dancing , they're singing If they couldn't walk on earth dancing . They're singing If they couldn't walk on earth . They're running now If they were crying on earth . There's no sadness in heaven where they are . So I think sometimes it's like we can just see them for where they were in this earth realm , they're not here anymore .

Speaker 2

There's something greater and more fantastic than we could ever imagine , and they are a part of it . Yeah .

Speaker 1

Yeah , you know , I think a question is what if they died , even though you prayed for them ? And I think that's a big one , and I think that that's why some people turn away from the faith , because they prayed and they didn't get what they wanted . And I'll say it again You've got to be humble enough to know that you don't know everything and you don't understand everything .

Speaker 1

And when stuff doesn't go how you want it to go , the most humble , faithful thing you can do is put your palms up like this and say , nevertheless , lord .

Speaker 2

I trust you .

Speaker 1

But one scripture that I stood on , that I shared at my mom's celebration of life , is from Hebrews chapter 11 , 13 . So Hebrews chapter 11 begins to talk about faith and it starts off in verse one . It says now , faith is the confidence in the things that you hope for , assurance about what you don't see , or vice versa , assurance and confidence . Then it goes on to Hebrews 11 , six and it says now , without faith , it's impossible to please God , for he who comes to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who diligently seeks him . So Hebrews 11 is really a setup about what real faith is . Then , after that , it starts to go into what many would call the hall of faith , and the hall of faith is basically great people from the Bible that did great things by faith , how this person was raised from the dead by faith . This person received their children back to life by faith . This miracle that happened by faith , this healing that happened by faith .

Speaker 1

But then it says something very interesting in Hebrews 11 , 13 . It says these all died in faith , not having received the promise . So basically , it was talking about all these people that received the promises , but then some people didn't receive the promise . But having seen them afar off . We assured of them , embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth . And so what it's saying is that there were some people in the part that I—oh , verse 13, . It says these died in faith . Not having received the promise , they died in faith , and when I read that , I said when I die , I want to make sure that I die in faith . I don't want to die in worry , angry at God , skepticism bitterness and any of that If we're going to die , let's die in faith .

Speaker 1

You know , the good news about my mom is that she died in faith . She died standing on the word of God .

Speaker 2

And watch this . I can't make a healing come . I'm the mailman , I deliver the package , but I can't make the package . God is the one who heals .

Speaker 1

And so all I can do is believe in what he said .

Speaker 2

My mom was a giant in the faith .

Speaker 1

She believed it . Four years of pain , four years of suffering , four years of doctor's trips . She stood on the word of God , and I'm happy to say that she didn't see the full manifestation this side of heaven , but she died in faith and she's with Jesus now , where there's no more sickness or sin or pain , and so I think that it's very important for people to hear that we can actually just keep standing in faith . I can't make anything happen . All I can do is make sure that I'm in faith at the end of my life , and so , for me , that's going to be my posture . That's going to be my posture , and I believe we love healing .

Speaker 1

We love the gifts of the Holy Spirit . Even if you look at it statistically , there's a percentage of people that are healed and percentage of people that aren't healed . Yet we don't know , why .

Speaker 1

That does not mean we don't contend for healing . I keep believing , I keep prophesying , I keep declaring for God's best and the more that I celebrate what he's doing , I see that percentage go up . But for those who maybe we don't see the full manifestation , I'm okay with saying God , I still trust you , and so I trust God with all of my relatives and my family and friends , and that's my perspective . Do you have anything else you wanted to add that could bring comfort to people who are dealing with grief ?

Speaker 2

Yeah , I would say that kind of yeah , you know . So what happens when a loved one dies that you know believe . You know , like mom you said , you know she had faith and you know we were believing for the opposite , but that didn't happen . I'm going to still trust God . I'm going to go on living life . I'm going to still praise God .

Speaker 1

Yeah , Still worship God , still serve God and actually turn up more .

Speaker 2

Yeah , she loved God .

Speaker 1

Yeah .

Speaker 2

She wasn't angry with God , she didn't blame God for her situation . She was totally okay with the Lord , and so I'm going to follow her example .

Speaker 1

She left a legacy . She left a legacy .

Speaker 2

She left a legacy of faith .

Speaker 1

She would always send these long texts and at the end say God got me .

Speaker 2

God got me , god got me and God got her Very true ?

Speaker 1

Well , we're out of time for today . Sweetheart , I think this was really good . I would really encourage our audience to share , share , share , share , share , share .

Speaker 1

Just if you could pay this message forward to somebody who's in grief I know a lot of people out there that are struggling with grief For too long yeah , for too long and it's time for them to get back in faith and get their hearts healed . And so , man , thank you for tuning in with us today . If you enjoyed today's podcast , make sure you hit the subscribe button , hit the alert icon . If you're on YouTube , wherever you get your podcasts , make sure that you can download us , because we release something new every Thursday and we would love for you to be a part of us .

Speaker 1

Let's just do life together , man , let's just keep learning from one another . We don't understand everything , but we understand some few things , but we are better together . Okay , if this has been really good to you , leave us a review .

Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

Speaker 1

Let us know what you got .

Speaker 2

Share your testimony with us , email us .

Speaker 1

We would love to hear from you . If you're ever in Florida , come worship with us at Alive Church . We've got a conference that's coming up , a live conference . It's one of those things that you want to get on a plane , get on a bus , get on a train . Bring some people with you , come to conference this year . Bring some people with you , come to conference this year . If you want more information about a live conference coming up in November , tickets are on sale or about to go on sale . Jump over right now , before they're sold out .

Speaker 1

And , of course , if you're ready to take your relationship with God to another level , make an investment and grab hold of this devotional called Living at a Nine , so that we can help you have a closer walk with Jesus .

Speaker 2

All right .

Speaker 1

Hey , we love you guys . We're praying for you . You're not alone . We honor you . We appreciate you . Thank you for all of your kind words and feedback . Let's keep doing life together . We'll see you next time , peace .