About 30 years ago I prayed for God to heal me and bless me with a little girl. I was healed, became pregnant, and blessed with being Mazie's mom. My daughter was hurt, abused, lost faith in God, people, and herself. She used drugs recreationally as she lost faith in herself and others but as the hurt and abuse and depression continued she used drugs I believe to escape. People she loved and cared about used her, verbally and physically abused her, hurt her deeply, ripped away everything she held dear in this life and she lost more and more of herself and her faith in God until she no longer had any hope. I prayed and prayed, many of us prayed for my daughter to be healed, filled with God's peace and inner joy that comes only from being in a relationship with God, and to know He loved her unconditionally and strengthened her and covered her with His grace, and know he wanted to get her out of that situation. God did. She did. I give God all the glory, honor and praise. And then Mazie went home to be with God.
God's word says for us to trust Him with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding. I trust my heavenly Father. I trust God and rejoice that my daughter was saved, experienced the peace and joy from feeling His love, and through faith and hope found a way out of all the heartache, hurt and loss that she had experienced and was experiencing trying to get out of the life she was in. She had faith again. She had hope of a better life. Would I have loved to have seen her completely out of the situation she was in and living the happy and whole life that she hoped for and I wanted for her? Yes. But I trust God. He allowed her to die. I don't know why. But I trust Him. I know it's part of a plan. I know he loved her unconditionally. I know he blotted out all her sin. I know he gave her faith, hope, peace, joy and everlasting life. I know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Through the blood of Jesus we are saved and are forgiven of all our sins. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior all of our mistakes and sins are blotted out. Our sin is as far from us as the East is from the West. There's a reason why God wants us to follow the straight and narrow path. If a man commits adultery and God forgives him he still must face the repercussion of that sin against his wife and marriage. If a woman steals and God forgives her she may still go to prison for stealing. If a people have promiscuous sex and contract a disease God will forgive them and help them through it. God strengthens us and helps us through the repercussions of our sin in this world whether we've sinned against him, people, or our body. God turns even our mistakes into blessings. God loves us as his dearly beloved children. He doesn't want us to sin because sin has repercussions.
Everything he teaches us is for our good and our benefit. God's word says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I believe Mazie's spirit has returned to God and that she is in a constant state of joy and peace that we all look forward to experiencing one day when we go home to be with the Lord. Was she murdered? Did she have a panic attack or asthma attack and couldn't breath? Did she use again and it killed her? Did she die at someone else's hand through negligence or abuse? I don't know. Maybe I'll never know. But do I trust God and believe she's with him? Yes. Do I believe in God's justice? Yes. Do I believe God will forgive or has forgiven people who hurt Mazie, and people who contributed to her death in some way? Yes. Do I forgive them? Yes. Do I believe she's been healed and living in a state of constant joy and peace? Yes. I thank God for the almost 28 years that I had Mazie.
I Thank God for the love, joy, happiness and blessing of being her mom. I thank God for each and every memory that she lives on in. I remember the first time that I thought about Mazie after her death without breaking down and crying. It was a happy memory and brought a laugh to my lips. It was a relief to remember her and laugh. I know that the thief (Satan) comes to steal, kill, and destroy us, our lives, our family, our health, our hope, our faith, and will do anything he can to wedge a gap in our relationship with God. I thank God for bringing Mazie back to Him through His love and for her knowing and experiencing His peace and the joy of knowing Him as a loving Father, and understanding His grace before she died. And I thank Him for me knowing this.
People get in horrible wrecks and don't get as much as a scratch. Others get into a fender bender and die. Some fight fatal diseases and overcome. Others die quickly. Some shoot themselves point blank and live to have a change in heart and a better life. Others die from silly accidents. Some suffer for years and years then finally give their heart to Christ and live the remainder of their life in joy and peace and constant praise for the change God did in them and their life. I thank God that Mazie was His child and promised everlasting life. That gives me peace. Before she died I saw the transformation in her, her heart, her faith in God, in hope that comes from knowing we're not of this world but a better world to come, and the longing and determination to overcome her demons. I don't know of anyone who knew Mazie who wasn't changed for the better. She loved unconditionally. She believed in people. She selflessly helped and loved people. She believed in God. She was an encourager. She believed love could change the world. She lost that belief and hope for a while. And then found it again in God's love for her, His grace he covered her with, and strength, peace, and inner joy He gave to her. It's hard to believe how much God loves us. We're flawed. We are far from perfect.
We make huge mistakes and do stupid things. God's Word says we are as filthy rags. But He makes us clean. He is merciful. He covers us with grace. We cannot work our way into heaven. Only faith in His love for us will get us into heaven. Oh, if only everyone understood God's grace and would accept His love for them. We are not saved through our works but through faith in Him and what He did for us. Upon getting to know God better we come to know God's mercy and grace and how we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus who died on the cross for us that we might be saved and have everlasting life. Jesus overcame death and took the keys to death and hell. The grave has no hold on us. Jesus went through the same trials, hurt, pain and temptations we do. He was wrongfully accused, beaten nearly to death, then died a sinners shameful death on a cross for us. But he prevailed. He rose from the dead, King of Kings. He overcame the world. Through Jesus we are saved, healed, strong, and overcome this world. Through Jesus we become better people and we live a better life, a life filled with the fruit and gifts of Holy Spirit.
