Alpha and Omega

"How do You never change, yet new every morning?
King of the world, yet lowly in heart.
There 'til the end; You're there from the start.
You are the Lion and the Lamb, both God and man.
Lord and You're my friend, Jesus.

Alpha and Omega, beginning and end.
Everlasting Father, my Lord and Friend!"
~CeCe Winans, Lord and Friend

They officially shared yesterday what we've suspected over the past week - my friend, Kristen Harris, is in her final days on earth after a 10-month battle with leukemia. 

Here's a yesteryear pic of us at the Hillsong conference. ❤

Kristen and her Mom (Brenda), the girls on her birthday, and the Mend fundraising dinner in 2020.

Kristin and her Dad (Bill) on Father's Day last June... she posted around this time last year about having symptoms that wouldn't go away and praying for answers as to what was causing them.

She and her family have had a grueling 10 months since her initial diagnosis, most of that spent at MD Anderson in Houston, chemo treatments and bone marrow biopsies and fighting infections and pneumonia, always doing their best to speak life and hope through it all.  Kristen is my age and single -- I'm emotional about it all, and I want her to know her life mattered.  She and her family have been a light in the midst of a dark and heavy season, and I'm grateful they're back in Oklahoma and that people are able to potentially visit and to comment with love and memories and support during her final days here.

Song of the Week = Alpha and Omega by the Gaither Vocal Band

Dad loves the Gaithers, so I heard them a lot growing up, and this was one of the few songs I really enjoyed.  The CeCe Winans song at the top of this post reminded me of it, so I looked it up this week.  It has a more powerful beginning than I'd remembered, and a joyful ending that all feels appropriate for this post.

1 Peter 1

Dear Friends, God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy.  As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.

Praise to God for a Living Hope

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead, and God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life.  It is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.  And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

So be truly glad.  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.  So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love Him even though you have never seen Him.  Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls…

A Call to Holy Living

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  He himself has said, “You must be holy, for I am holy.”

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites.  He will judge or reward you according to what you do.  So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as “temporary residents.”  God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver, which lose their value.  But He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.  God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake.

Because of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.  Now your faith and hope can rest in Him alone.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.  For you have a new life… Yes, our natural lives will fade as grass does when it becomes all brown and dry.  All our greatness is like a flower that droops and falls; but the Word of the Lord will last forever.  And His message is the Good News that was preached to you.”

❤ ❤ ❤