Afraid

Afraid?

Afraid'
Of what'
To feel the spirit’s glad release,
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of life to cease.
Afraid of that'

Afraid'
Of what'
Afraid to see the Savior’s face,
To hear his welcome and to trace
The glory gleaned from wounds of grace
Afraid of that'

Afraid'
Of what'
A flash, a crash
A pierced heart
Darkness!
Light!
Oh, heaven’s art!
A wound of His,
A counterpart
Afraid of that'

Afraid'
Of what'
To do by death what life could not
Baptize with blood a stony plot
Till souls shall blossom from this spot
Afraid of that'

From John & Betty’s Stamm’s belongings after their death in China

From valley to valley out over the hilltops,
From sunshine to fog like the darkest of night;
So we follow the Lord down life’s winding pathway,
And walk much by faith and little by sight.

‘Twould be easy to see were His presence like lightning,
And easy to hear if like thunder His voice;
But He leads in the quiet by the voice of the Spirit,
And we follow in love for we’ve made Him our choice.

The path that we tread by the cross is o’er shadowed,
And the glory at times by pain is made dim;
Temptations assail and the spirit grows weary,
Yet we’re ever sustained by the vision of Him.

The years of our lives be they few or be many,
Will soon pass away as dreams of the night;
Then we’ll step through the portals on eternity’s morning,
And greet Him in glory as faith turns to sight.

- Richard L. Baxter

When we consecrate ourselves to God, we think we are making a great sacrifice, and doing lots for Him, when really we are only letting go some little, bitsie trinkets we have been grabbing, and when our hands are empty, He fills them full of His treasures. --Betty Stam

Thank God that we pass from death to eternity with Him.

Indeed, Paul's anxiety in Phil 1v23, wanting to depart and be with Christ, should be mirrored in the life of the believer.

We should not be afraid of death, but rather, seeing death as the release from the restraints of the earthly life to the glorious liberty of eternal life.

Afraid? Afraid of what? Glory to God.

God bless.