THIS IS THE QUESTION THAT WAS ON MY MIND
If you could speak to your family from heaven . . .
This is the question that is on my mind: “If you could speak to your family and friends about Christ, from inside heavens’ gate . . . would you want to?”
If I really could speak to my family and friends from heaven side, what would I say, if I only had a few words . . . What would you say? Would you say, “Hey, the streets are really gold!”? . . . Uncle Jack, says hello? . . . The angels are awesome? . . . Living in the presence of God is joy unspeakable and full of glory? For me, I would want to encourage those who are in Christ to keep walking with Him and give those that aren’t a loving message and opportunity to do so.
We set about to establish criteria on how to choose what we would say.
We want to:
- please God with what we say.
- state our walk with Christ.
- encourage all our family and friends to walk with Christ and join us in heaven.
- remind our family that while accepting Christ as Lord and Savior is an individual choice we can share eternity together as a family.
We thought about what it would be like to be enjoying the wonderfulness of heaven and begin to hear all the angels of heaven rejoice and stop several of them and ask, “What does this mean?” “Another person has come to Christ and because of your testimony, this time it’s one of your family members. In time, they will join you here.” We can’t even imagine what kind of joy that would bring to any of us.
JUST IMAGINE
You’ve been in heaven for a few days already . . . If God allowed you to be one in the great cloud of witnesses, in Hebrews 12:1, that encompass his saints and you could speak to all your family and friends at the funeral and you only had a few words that you could speak, how important would those words be?
Let’s be honest. Funerals can be difficult for more than one reason. Not only have you lost a love one but you feel the grief of your loss. It’s natural even if you can truly celebrate their passing over to Christ. Everyone is being nice but just below this emotional “skin” are all the hurt feelings; the pain from words and actions from others that are there; disappointments, frustrations and unresolved family issues. What could or should we say that would bring the family together?
After much discussion with others here is what we would say:
For God so loved me, that He gave His only begotten son for me; I have not perished but I have received my everlasting life.
I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith. I have received my crown of righteousness that God promised me.
To all I know and love – Walk with Christ Jesus and when your journey on earth is over, I will meet you just inside heaven’s gate.
Choose you this day whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
We felt inspired to choose these words for ourselves and others. They are powerful; impactful; and they celebrate the life of someone who has gained eternal life with Christ. All four positive promises are “sublimated” onto wedding dress material. The promises are then placed inside their own individual 3D picture frame.
There is also space provided on the Legacy Quilt for someone to speak directly. If someone had a favorite saying, a poem they had written, or wisdom to share there is space next to their picture that is pinned on the quilt. Also, there is room for hand written notes or notes generated by a computer. It can be a wonderful memory; a loving expression; or something you wanted to tell your loved one but didn’t get a chance to. We have found this can be a very healing experience. That’s why some people refer to the Legacy Quilt as a Healing Quilt. My Legacy Quilt gives you another chance to personally say goodbye. Our quilt creates a legacy for your family or church members to remind future generations how much your loved one was loved, respected and missed.
My Legacy Quilt makes certain that you and your loved ones will not be forgotten for generations to come. That’s why the quality of our quilt had to be so high. It is truly a generational quilt. See “The Design” to see why this can happen.
