As we celebrate Easter this year, we are filled with mixed emotions.  We are so glad Cora is now out of her suffering, possessing complete knowledge of the resurrection from the dead and life everlasting with no more pain or tears.  However we often feel lonely and somewhat empty when we cannot share our lives with her.  But we are so grateful for you, the Body of Christ, that has been such a blessing and comfort and encouragement to us.  Thank you for your many, many cards filled with words of love and encouragement as well as memorial gifts and other indications of your love.  We are SO blessed!

 

This month I thought I would share some of Cora’s letter with you from April, 1997 which has an Easter theme.  I trust you will be blessed and encouraged again by what she wrote.

 

“As I gazed out my window, my eyes rested on the ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ tree given to me by a friend.  Over the winter its foliage had withered and didn't seem to be coming back   we were pretty sure it would die.  But the tiny, almost leafless tree had done an amazing thing   it had blossomed everywhere as an almost solid mass of flowers   deep purple, lavender and pure white   it was glorious!  As I lay there, I thought of my friend Armene.  When she saw it she'd exclaimed, ‘There's a story in that tree Cora!’  She marveled at how one tree could produce three different colors.  We explained that the flowers all start as deep purple and gradually lighten until at last they are pure white.  Because the process is so constant, the clusters contain all the colors at once, making a breathtaking display.  But as different as each flower looks, they all have the same source   their tree of life, and each one is beautiful in its own right. 

 

“As I looked long and hard at the tree I searched for its message.  Could it be that my journal represented my ‘purple’ and ‘lavender’ days and now I am coming into my ‘white’ days?  Could this be a transformation time    the work of the Refiner's fire where all I can see is dross?  While I lay mourning over the seeming loss of my spiritual ‘color’ and richness, am I failing to realize that the same Life is still in me preparing me to wear a robe of white?  ‘Is that the tree's story Lord?’,  I mused.  Back it came   that chorus: ‘For you still carry inside you His Light that never dies; and you are always before Him, the apple of His eye’, only now I was beginning to believe it.

 

“Yes, I think God is getting me ready for my tomorrow and as much as I cherish my yesterdays with Him and hurt in my todays, I want to be ready.  And I will be ready.  For I still carry inside me His Light that never dies.  A precious sister confirmed this and helped me really understand that I must not confuse physical weakness and accompanying soulish manifestations with spiritual failure.  Her letter so helped me that I want to share parts of it with you, knowing that many of you are enduring difficult trials and the enemy would also like to rob you of your spiritual peace.  Mary writes:

 

"’The two of you have been united in the diagnosis of M.S. (much suffering) and (much sacrifice).  Your love of God and each other is the measure in your ability to bear this tremendous trial.  What divine rewards are in store for your faithfulness?  I cannot begin to even possibly imagine that but I know God has a magnificent plan for you both.  Cora I am writing you to encourage you to stay as courageous as you have been in God's will.  Do not be too hard on yourself if physical weakness gives in to times of extreme sadness or despair.  This physical weakness can even start to cause fear or intellectual doubt.  Those human natured times are only a physical manifestation.  Your desire of good for all in God's Will has been your anchor.  Yes Cora, you are inspiring from within a cave!  The cave cannot keep your light from shining.  It shines when you're sad, it shines through despair and it is shining now.  And Jim, you have been assigned an incredible assignment - a task in great love that only a certain heart can fulfill.  May God bless and enlighten you to his Perfect Will.’

 

“How precious and comforting were these words to us and we pray they touch you who need them.  Now may the Lord grant us all His courage.  May you see beyond the physical realm to the glorious plan God has for you.  May you not be looking back at your yesterday's with God but press on towards your tomorrow   the High Calling in Christ Jesus.  May He grant you peace of heart and mind during delays and transitions and make us all one in a glorious beautiful union in Him, for although we are constantly changing, He who has called us never changes... He is the same Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Forever.  Hallelujah.  We love you dearly and thank you for your prayers.”

 

May your Easter be filled with His glory and wonder and a new sense of the great resurrection life Jesus has provided for us through His death and resurrection.  He has risen indeed!