We are members of the “third camp” I guess, dear Carol Ann. Torn between the longing for Home with Jesus and sorrowing over the ones we love who don’t seem to know Him or believe the Truth and the Way. One verse in particular that gives me hope . . .
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
“Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
“If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us”
So . . . I don’t know if I am interpreting this verse correctly, but If where love is, God is, then I’ve hope! I do see love in the lives of my children, and in my brother’s life, and in the lives of others I love. Maybe theirs is not perfect love, but neither is my love perfect. This gives me hope. Can it be that God in his great mercy is at work perfecting their love so that one day they will realize that He has been with them all along, loving them and leading them along?
You mentioned that you sit alone without your beloved prodigals. I can imagine Jesus just weeping with you . . . Can imagine how lonely and heartbroken you must be . . . And you are ashamed because the joy seems to have left you . . . I am fortunate to be able to spend time with my children; hug them, show them love. I come away from those interactions with my own shame because I can’t seem to find a way to break through to them regarding the lateness of the hour. Sigh . . . The times we are in do seem so very strange; the sense urgency chokes me.
Open the eyes of their hearts, Lord! Until then, Carol Ann and I, and many others I’m sure, will be crying through our prayers for them. Strengthen us, Lord. Take our mustard seed faith and with it save our children and our grandchildren and our mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and all the ones you have given us to love. Amen
Never stop praying, Mama. and Father, may we see those mountains fall here in the land of the living! Time is short, but we know your love has a long reach!