Our lives can forever be changed in the twinkling of an eye. I can think of many moments in my life that have forever changed me. On March 16, 1996 when I said the words "I Do" my life was forever changed. In 1998 when in a groggy state I heard the doctor speak the words, "It's cancer" and I have never been the same. On four different occasions I have been blessed to have my life changed by a precious cry that broke through the silence of a delivery room and this heart has never been the same. On December 17 my life was forever changed when I heard the words "your son has a brain tumor." It doesn't take long. The words only have to be few, but forever you are changed. The course of your life, the way you live and the activities surrounding you are all changed in the twinkling of an eye. Around the dinner table in 1978 my life was FOREVER changed as I acknowledged Jesus Christ as my Savior. That decision, made at that moment has changed me and the way I have responded to all the rest of these moments forever. Without the peace of Jesus, without His love, without His eternal perspective and without His spirit reigning in my heart, my marriage, my cancer, my parenting skills and the nightmare of being told your son has a brain tumor would all have resulted in different attitudes and would have caused my life to look very different. But that moment at the age of 5 when I said yes to Jesus, I said yes to a change for the better. I gave up control. I acknowledged that He was now in control of my life and now all things were possible through Him. He takes the things that we think would be impossible for us to handle and He makes it possible, because we do not walk alone and now He handles those things. It is amazing how quickly life as we know it can change. Things that just weeks before we could do without a second thought can now cause us great difficulty. Matthew is learning this lesson right now as he adjusts to his life changing circumstances, but what he knows and WHO he knows is truth. Matthew understands that all of this is being filtered through his father's loving hands and he doesn't have to handle it because Easter sunday 2004 Matthew's life was forever changed when he asked Jesus into his heart and life. I will never forget the prayer that precious 5 year old prayed that day."Dear Jesus, I have sin in my life. Please forgive me. Come live in my heart and you be in control instead of me. Amen." Then those big brown eyes looked up at me and his daddy and said, "Now I'm not just your son, I'm your brother... in Christ." In that moment Matthew's life was forever changed. God began preparing him that day for what was to come. There is another moment that we long for that will forever change our lives. I Corinthians 15:52 says "in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable and WE WILL BE CHANGED." The changes in this life may change how we live and how we view things on earth, but they are not permanent. One day my cancer will be gone, one day Matthew will no longer have a brain tumor, but we have the promise that in the twinkling of an eye WE WILL BE CHANGED. Why? Because we are in Christ. The very moment we called on Him, He not only changed our lives here on earth forever, but our eternity was forever changed. That hope is what makes the rest of this possible. That hope is what washes all of our fear and sorrow away. In the twinkling of an eye, in a sheer moment your life can forever be changed. JESUS can change your life for all of eternity. Call on His name. Say yes to Him. JESUS!
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