WHY CRY?!--Solutions to Sorrow Over Dad's Graduation!    Maria #233       DFO 2947         10/94
By Maria

         I've been really thinking and praying and asking the Lord how people could have any sadness or grief about Dad's graduation after hearing all of these wonderful words from the Lord through Dad, through me, and through our prophets, and I managed to come up with a few things that might bother some of you and cause you to be a little sad.
         First of all, I can certainly understand why you initially, in the first few moments after hearing the news, might feel a great surge of sadness and become very emotional and negatively affected. There could be several reasons for this:

         * 1. The shock of this unexpected news.
         Any shock to your system can be and often is accompanied by very emotional reactions, most commonly tears, or even feeling physically ill, pains in the heart, etc. These are a very natural, physical reaction to something that we initially perceive to be bad news. Reacting in such a way does not mean that you are unspiritual. It simply means you are human.

         * 2. You may be affected by someone else's sadness.
         I remember I always used to cry when one of the folks on our staff would cry. In those moments I think I identified with her, and her pain became mine. There's nothing wrong with this kind of tears, either, but you can be a greater strength to others by comforting them and helping them overcome their pain or sorrow.

         * 3. The automatic, ingrained System reaction that you may have that death is so terrible.
         For most of us adults who lived for many years in the System, death was always portrayed as the worst thing possible, and many of us were negatively affected by the sadness and sorrow that surrounds almost any death in the System.
         This is the sorrow of the world which worketh death, the sorrow of those who have no hope in the Lord or Heaven. (See 2Cor.7:10; 1Thes.4:13.) Such portrayals or experiences in the System are bound to have affected our attitudes unless we have been continually cleansed by the washing of the Word in this particular area. The solution and cure for all of these types of wrong attitudes is the Word. Just bathe yourself spiritually in the beautiful, feeding, comforting, life-giving messages from Heaven and personal words from Dad that we have been blessed with.

         * 4. You may have had a bad experience in the System associated with death.
         In the unspiritual and ungodly atmosphere of the System, all kinds of difficult experiences can occur as an outcome of the death of a loved one, including fear, anger, bitterness, etc. Again, the answer to this is the Word. Reading over and over the beautiful poster backings, the Heaven's Children story, the wonderful things that Dad has said about going to be with Jesus, and the beautiful prophecies the Lord has given us about Dad's Homegoing should dispel any negative feelings.

         * 5. You may worry about the Family and what is going to happen now "since Dad is no longer leading it."
         As you know, Dad has always emphasized that it's the Lord Who is leading this Family, and that we human beings who are leaders are merely His tools, His instruments, His representatives whom He chooses to pass on His guidance and His instructions to His people. If you read and believe the Word, the things that Dad has gotten from the Lord and published in numerous Letters, then you shouldn't have any problem with this, and you won't worry about who is leading the Family. (See "So What," ML #2861, Lifelines 21.) The Lord has promised that He is going to give me--and all of us--what we need to keep us all going and doing a good job for Him right up to the End, thank the Lord!
         Like the Lord mentioned in the prophecies, "Fear not who shall teach you or who shall lead you or who shall guide you. Look to Me, look to My Word, look at what I have written already. As ye look to My Word ye shall be strengthened and ye shall be empowered, for it is a new day. Ye shall go forth and fight My battles with a new strength and with a new vigor, and I shall lead you and guide you."
         And as Dad has mentioned before, he's still going to be helping to lead us in the Spirit, as the Lord promised he could many times in the past.

         * 6. You may feel sad that you won't be hearing from Dad any more via his Letters.
         Again, the answer is the same: The Word! Dad has not only already written us on almost every subject imaginable, thereby giving us an almost inexhaustible source of counsel in the Letters we've already published, but there are many many more of his Letters which we've yet to publish! Plus, he has told us that he will be giving us more, as we stay tuned in to the Lord and His Heavenly communications. Praise the Lord! (Update: This has certainly come to pass! We have since published reams of Dad's Letters in the form of Heavenly messages.)

         * 7. You may feel "Grandpa is gone now and I've lost my chance to ever hear personally from him."
         What's a little "personal" word, when you have thousands of Grandpa's Letters, which as he has said, were written to you "personally"? Besides, why would you want Grandpa to stay and answer you personally when he is so wonderfully happy in Heaven and is now going to be able to be closer than ever to all of us?

         * 8. You may feel bad that you won't ever get the chance to personally meet Dad (or see him again), at least in this life.
         Just read Dad's two "I Gotta Split" Letters to see how Dad feels about what is the best way to "meet" and get to know him intimately. Again, the Word is the answer, and though his body is gone from us, the Wonder Working Words he has given us live on, for the Word is Spirit, and the Word is Life!

         * 9. You may be regretful that you did not write Dad more to encourage him or pray for him more while he was still here.
         Well, this is a very common problem that occurs when someone leaves us. It's called remorse, regret, condemnation, etc., and it happens to all of us. That's the thing I've had to fight the most, knowing that I could have done more for Dad, I could have paid him more attention, I could have felt more the things that he was going through, I could have spent more time with him. But Dad is having such a happy time up There right now, I know that he certainly does not want us to be sad. Jesus and he forgive us for our shortcomings and our faults and failures, and even in some cases our direct disobediences. He wants us to forget the past and those things that would drag us down and immobilize us, and he wants us to look forward to the race that is before us, and to be happy along with him, and for him, and for ourselves as well, so that we will continue to be encouraged and inspired to share God's Good News with others and make them happy, too.

         * 10. You may be remorseful that you didn't fully obey him or do your best for the Lord and him.
         Again, the answer is the same as above. Let's ask the Lord and Dad to forgive us, and let's commit ourselves to even greater obedience in the future.

         * 11. You may feel condemned for not praying more for Dad during his last bout of sickness, and think that your lack of continual prayer or desperation contributed to his leaving us.
         Again, "there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" (Rom.8:1). It was God's time and the time Dad chose to go, so we would not have wanted to try to keep Dad here by our prayers that he stay.

         * 12. You may have gotten verses or prophecies that seemed to strongly indicate that Dad was going to be healed here on this Earth, and you're confused and wonder if you have been misled and are a false prophet.
         I believe the reason some prophecies indicated Dad would be healed was that up until the very hour that he went to be with the Lord, Dad had not yet made the decision to go. In fact, he was planning to stay here with us. Therefore, because he had decided to stay, the Lord was assuring you that He was indeed going to heal him from this illness. However, at the last minute, when Dad changed his mind, and I prayed just before he left, "releasing" him by telling the Lord that I was willing to let him go if that's what would be best, these prophecies were no longer applicable, and something even better took their place: The assurance of full and complete and eternal healing in that wonderful Heavenly realm--healing and health and happiness and Heaven forever!

         * 13. Because you hadn't read anything in recent Letters that Dad's time to go was so close, you may worry that Dad was cut off before his time. You may be tempted to feel that the Devil has somehow gotten a victory and managed to "snuff out Dad's life."
         To be sure, Dad's departure was unexpected for all of us, and the Lord deliberately hid any advance notice from us. While there is always the temptation to regret that you were unable to reassure your loved one of your love and devotion and say your final good-byes, obviously in this case the Lord knew it would be easier for all of us if Dad would just go quickly in his sleep. Dad had already given us a number of talks to prepare us for his Homegoing, many of which we've pubbed for the whole Family, and this time there simply wasn't time for further farewells or emotional parting words since Dad himself did not know until the last minute that he was going.
         But you must not worry that Dad was cut off before his time or that the Devil was able to somehow "snuff out his life." No one took his life from him; he chose to go. He was not "cut off before his time." The Lord specifically promised him on numerous occasions that this would not happen. This was the time that Dad himself chose to go.

         * 14. You may not see how Dad can help us more from the spirit world than he could from here on Earth, because Dad always said he wanted to stay here with us so he could continue to be a help to us.
         The answer to this is that before, Dad could help us more here on this Earth. But recently, since he had grown older and was much weaker and more frail, the Lord knew that he could do more to help us from the spirit world. As he says in the prophecy, "Oh, how I long to be able to teach you and instruct you as I did before. Oh, how I wanted to share more with you, but I could not, because my strength had failed and my old body could not do what I wanted it to. But now I am free! Now I have power, I have strength, I have life, I have freedom, I have liberty!"

         * 15. You may feel concerned about me and how I am taking it.
         You don't have to feel bad for me, because every time I think of Dad being gone I get so happy thinking of how wonderful it is for him that I can't be sad for myself! This has been a wonderful, wonderful precious time for me. Instead of looking over to see Dad next to me, I look up in the Spirit and I see him right there.

         So, dear Family, please cheer up now and know that there is nothing to worry about, nothing to make you feel afraid, nothing to make you doubt! Remember, Jesus never fails! So let's all trust Him and shout!--And work harder than ever before to make Him happy!

         P.S. The departure of our loved one should be a time to reflect on the meaning of Heaven and the meaning of our life here on Earth. It should be a time to reassess our priorities and rededicate and commit ourselves to setting our affections on the things above instead of on the things of this Earth, and to dedicate ourselves to carrying on the work that Dad has left for us to do and is depending upon us to do, and is expecting us to do. So while we rejoice that Dad is now free from the evils of this Earth and from all pain and sickness, we should not fail to also meditate on the seriousness of this time. We should reflect on the fact that life is very short and Heaven is very near--not only for Dad but for all of us.
         Let's rejoice that our beloved prophet has gone on to his reward, but let's also let the Lord use this time to draw us all closer to Him and the Heavenly vision and calling that He has given each of us. God bless you, I love you! Mama


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