UNTIL WE SEE YOU FACE TO FACE

Until We See You Face to Face

Juanza’s Song

 (Psalm 103:14 & I Corinthians 13:12)

Lord, you know we are but dust

for you are the one who created us.

Lord, you know you’ve given us limited capacity

to understand your power and your grace.

So, Lord, help us trust in you 

even when we don’t understand

all the ways you work in us 

to bring about your perfect plan.

Lord, give us grace until we see you face to face.

For when we see you face to face,

then we shall see clearly.

Instead of seeing only pieces,

we’ll see them fit into your perfect plan.  

(I Corinthians 13:12)

            Read all of Psalm 103.  Read it slowly.  Read it aloud.  Drink in its truth.  I had purchased and watched a video on which Michael Card did just that only a few days before I got the call about Juanza.  Actually, the school secretary took the call and came to my classroom to give me the news that my friend Juanza had suffered complications after childbirth and wasn’t expected to live.  I hadn’t even known she was pregnant!  It seemed only yesterday that I’d traveled to another town to attend her wedding, but it had been long enough for her to be having her first child.

            That night at the hospital Juanza’s mother sobbed to me that she couldn’t understand why Juanza was dying when she finally had all her heart had desired: a loving husband, two step-sons, and a beautiful new daughter.  She felt guilty for questioning God.  I shared Psalm 103:14 with her and assured her that God understood her inability to understand his ways. On the way home I had to remind myself that God in his wisdom had a plan for Juanza’s family and that this earthly tragedy had not caught heaven off guard.  ALL the words of Psalm 103 were still true for them and for me even if we were having a hard time trusting at that moment. 

            Juanza, a respiratory therapist, had once told me that the saddest thing was to see a family keeping a body alive when the person was probably already absent from that body and present with the Lord.  During the drive from the hospital I prayed that the Lord would take Juanza home quickly so that her husband would not be faced with the decision to remove life support.  He was not up to that.  When I arrived home, my phone was ringing.  Juanza had gone to be with Jesus.  A few days later, I wrote the song above.

            Read Psalm 103.  Read it slowly.  Read it aloud.  Internalize it.  Memorize it.  Then, when sorrow beyond belief encroaches on your life, allow God to bring Psalm 103 to mind and help you to remember that his Word is always true.