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“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that
you also may be where I am.”
John 14:2-3
The news came as a complete shock… my friend,
my neighbor, a woman I respected and admired was gone.
“There is no way”, I thought… “This has to be a
mistake… I just saw her on Thursday!” As I struggled
to wrap my mind around the devastating news, memories and emotions began to wash over
me. We had lived just two houses apart for almost seven years. We had become friends
with Barbara and Roger, we had prayed for one another, and studied the scriptures
together. She was a person I enjoyed being with and someone that I wanted to reconnect
with after a busy season of speaking. Now we would never have the opportunity because
suddenly a woman that I (and others who knew her believed) was invincible; a woman that
had survived high blood pressure and hypertension, mini-strokes, thyroid cancer,
neuropathy, rheumatoid arthritis and lived with diabetes had died.
As the words “Barbara is gone” rang in my ears, all I could think of was this wonderful
woman standing in the presence of Jesus, the love of her life, as He greeted her in Heaven.
Barbara talked often about Heaven and Jesus. She felt the rapture was coming in her
lifetime and counted the days until she would see her Lord and Master. She loved the
scriptures and spent her time pouring over each word… memorizing, studying, and then
sharing what she learned with those who asked. She was a gentle type, never sharing
unless you expressed an interest… but when you did you could see the passion and joy fill
her eyes and face as she shared what she was learning in God’s word. In fact, as I sat in my
house that afternoon recalling my time with her, I thought about the first time I asked her
a bible question.
It was a year before I started my speaking ministry and God had laid a message on my
heart that I knew He wanted me to share. Not having the proper tools and wanting to
understand the meaning of a word in Greek, I walked down to see Barbara. She was
delighted! She pulled out every study tool in the house as we searched the scriptures. We
had concordances, dictionaries, commentaries; you name it all spread out on the floor. The
funny thing was that many of her tools were upstairs, and since her husband Roger was
home she sent up to get books. About the time he would come down the stairs, she would
send him up for another. She must have sent that man upstairs five times in row before we
were done! I still laugh thinking about the expression on his face as she asked for another
book. Not only did I leave her house that day with my answer, I left with a new tool to
study my Bible. I left knowing the original language is rich and understanding it opens the
Word. It changed the way I study, and it has made me a better teacher.
Barbara was a woman who believed the Bible was the inspired word of God. She believed it
cover to cover. More than that she lived what she believed. I know that today Barbara is
walking down streets of gold. I know she lives in the city of Heaven and is in the presence
of the Lord. I believe that one minute she was standing in her kitchen, and the next she
was standing in Heaven. Barbara never doubted that Jesus had gone to prepare a place for
her. She knew that someday He would come back and get her because His word said so. I
image the place He prepared for her was as special and lovely as she was.
It was obvious at her memorial service that I was one of many who had been touched by
Barbara. Her humility, gentleness and strong faith had been an example to others. She
had inspired, encouraged, prayed for, and loved people and they had loved her for it. I
suspect there are countless lives that she touched… many of which I imagine welcomed her
in Heaven. Her job was done, and at the service Roger, who proudly stood up and proclaimed
“I am Barbara France’s husband”, simply said Barbara was ready… and I guess that begs
this question…are you?
We never know when God will call us home; we only know that every one of us will one day
leave this earth. We will either find ourselves in the warmth and love of Heaven, or we will
find ourselves in the cold dark reality of hell. Barbara is in Heaven because she trusted in
Jesus work on the cross and in His resurrection. She believed that Jesus died for her sins,
and there is no doubt that He was Lord in her life. Roger shared with me that in the last
few weeks before Barbara went home Philippians 2: 9-11 kept coming up in their
discussions. It reads…
“Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
One day we will all confess Jesus as Lord. We will either do it now in this lifetime and
experience the grace of Christ, or we will do it then… but after we die, though our knee will
bow and we will call Christ Lord, it will be too late. Barbara understood that reality, and she
knew that one day every person will be asked this question by the Father… Why should I
allow you into heaven? The ticket "in" is not good works, it is not people praying you in
after your gone, it is not being a good person… it is only that you believed that Jesus died
for you on the cross and confessed with your mouth Jesus Christ as Lord.
Let me ask you a question, what do you believe about Jesus? Do you believe that He died
for your sins and rose again three days later? Do you believe that He is the way, the truth
and the life? Do you believe like Barbara, He is preparing a place for you? If not why not?
If you have questions I’d love to help you find the answers… e-mail me at
cj@unfadingbeautyministries.org . Like Barbara, Jesus is my Lord, and I believe that right
now He is preparing a place for me so that I too can be where He is. I hope on that day that
I’m called home, my friend Barbara comes to meet me at the gate.
You know, I never told Barbara how much I appreciated her lesson… I suspect she smiled
when a year later I handed her my first message that included the information we had
studied that day. By the way, the word I wanted to know more about was the word
beautiful… which ironically is the very word I would use to describe Barbara.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed
away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard
a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with
them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for
the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 21: 1-4
“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22:20
Blessed is she who has believed that Jesus is preparing a place for her.
In loving memory and celebration of my friend Barbara France… I’ll see you again soon.
| Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished! Luke 1:45 |
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