***I’ve lost people close to me and have been a caregiver for a long time.  There has been  a lot of soul searching and asking why.  This post is ‘all the questions’… and a simple answer.***

‘Where will you go?’ It is a choice, after all.

The following question is uncomfortable but necessary…

People will conclude I am intense and overreacting, but we are only given a limited time and do not know when it is up. As a caregiver, I lived with this every day. What is it that truly matters to you in life? What are you living for or working toward in this life? Is it a better future here? Are you killing yourself for a job to gain all that you can because all you have is this life?

How will you be remembered?

Did you do good for others?

Did you ever hurt anyone? 

If you made terrible decisions and caused pain to others, have you reconciled with them? Were you given a chance to? Did you take the opportunity to fix it?

Why is there so much sadness and pain?

What is the point of “doing good”?

Do you know why you are here or wonder why you have an existence?

If you have an idea of why you are here, do you ever wonder what comes next?

Does anything come next? Would it be ok if nothing did? What if all the good you were doing had no rewards? Would you still do it?
What if what you are working toward and striving for makes absolutely no difference for your next life? And if there is no next life, what is the point of doing any achieving at all?

If you were to die today, do you know with 100% certainty what would happen to you?

If you knew you were going to take your last breath today, what would your final thought be? 

Regret?

What do you wish you had done in your life?

Do you know without a doubt what you believed is true?

Do you know where you are going? If you had only two options of Heaven or hell, could you automatically respond with no hesitation and 100% assurance of your fate? Are you ok with that? Furthermore, if you know with 100% certainty what will happen, did you do everything you thought you could do to get it? Do you deserve it? What makes you so sure? Look at your life.

What if none of it mattered?

Imagine that you are 100 years old and are reflecting on your life. Would you be happy with it? Do you have regrets you could not shake? Maybe you are content with all of your choices.

What about a career?

Maybe you had a well-paying job. Or perhaps you did not. Maybe you had a job that paid the bills, and that was enough. Maybe you traveled.

Conversely, maybe you never got the chance. 

Maybe you were married. On the other hand, perhaps you never wanted to marry. Is it because you were too selfish to share your life with another, or was it because you never found the right one?

Maybe you had children. Perhaps you did not or were unable.

Maybe you were not meant to get married and have children, and that is ok. Your journey was different and brought you somewhere else.

But, while you were reflecting and see yourself at 100 years old, did any of it matter? While you are taking your final breath, are you surrounded by those you love and who loved you? Are you alone? Are you scared? It’s your last one…. You have one last thought… What is it? Would anything you did in your life matter in the end? Would you have done things differently?

What about souls? Do you have one, or are you simply an empty vessel? Do you have any value at all? If you believe you do have a soul, what happens to it?

What if you suddenly realized there was nothing good that you did to earn your eternity? What if you realized you wasted all that time? What if, with your last breath, you realized it was all vanity?

What would you do?

What if that was today?

Nothing in this life is guaranteed. Everything is temporary, and tomorrow is not promised.

What are you doing with your life? Are you living your best life and making every second count? What does that mean exactly? Is it out of selfish gain or genuine consideration?

All of the treasures you obtained on earth and all the pleasures and “good things” you did while you were alive do not mean anything in this one moment. This is your reality, and you cannot run. You are facing eternity now and have to wonder if you ok with that?

Is what you lived for and served going to save you? Did you need saving? Were you a good person? How do you know if you were good or not?

What was the standard to compare your goodness?

What makes your good different than the next person? What if whom you do not think is very good thinks similarly to you and believes they are a good person in their own eyes? Neither of you has done anything “bad” or murdered anyone. What makes their definition of good different from yours?

If everyone has their truth, what makes something true? What are you comparing truths to?
Have you ever hated anyone? Have you ever had lustful thoughts? What if those things were just as bad as committing murder and adultery?

That is ridiculous isn’t it?

What if your thoughts need to be controlled just as much as your actions? Nobody sees your thoughts, so you are safe. Nobody knows the depths of your heart or what you do in secret except you, right?

What if salvation could not be earned and it was only a gift freely given?

Would you take it?

What if all the works you did could not save you? What if all the money you gave to the church and all the volunteering and “good” you did for charities could not help you earn a place in eternity? What if all of the “sacrifices” and “works” you did for God did not matter? What if all of your “religious duties” did not mean a thing?

What if all of the “good” you did for others were for nothing?

What if there was no way to earn salvation on your own? Would your world come crashing down knowing you could not save yourself?

Would you feel lost? Would you realize everything you have done was for your ego?

What if Someone already paid the price for you, and all He wanted was you?

Would you give up everything you thought you knew to get this gift?

Would you be thankful and relieved knowing you are enough as you are? You did not have to do anything to earn it, and you are free knowing you never could. What if you found out Someone already took the place of guilt and shame and all that striving and said, “it is finished”. What if that Someone loved you so much that they wanted you forever and paid a debt you never could pay? What if He was the only way to Heaven? What if believing Him was the only way to have an assurance of eternity?

What if Jesus was real and what He said was true?

What if He meant, “come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest?”

Would you go?

The answer to all these questions is a straightforward one: Jesus.

Youtube Link: Natalie Grant – Clean

I see shattered. You see whole.

I see broken, but You see beautiful.

And You’re helping me to believe…

You’re restoring me piece by piece.What was dead now lives again.

My heart’s beating inside my chest.

Oh I’m coming alive with joy and destiny ’cause You’re restoring me piece by piece.

There’s nothing too dirty that You can’t make worthy

You wash me in mercy…

I am clean

Washed in the blood of Your sacrifice…

Your blood flowed red and made me white.

My dirty rags are purified…

I am clean

“CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD; AND RENEW A RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN ME.”
– PSALM 51:10

“FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST.” – EPHESIANS 2:8-9

“LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED: YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.  IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS: IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.  AND IF I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF; THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.  AND WHITHER I GO YE KNOW, AND THE WAY YE KNOW.  THOMAS SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WE KNOW NOT WHITHER THOU GOEST; AND HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY?
JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE: NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME. IF YE HAD KNOWN ME, YE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN MY FATHER ALSO: AND FROM HENCEFORTH YE KNOW HIM, AND HAVE SEEN HIM.”
– JOHN 14:1-7

“MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME: AND I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE; AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND.” – JOHN 10:27-28

“SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM.
AND GOD BLESSED THEM, AND GOD SAID UNTO THEM, BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH, AND SUBDUE IT: AND HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND OVER THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND OVER EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH.”
-GENESIS 1:27-28