Zoe and Mourning
Two days after I lost my dad, I had a dream and I was talking to ‘’him’’, he said so many other things that shaped my reality for years. I would also cry and cry that I lost my dad for many years. Whenever a need arise and I knew that if my dad was alive, he would have taken care of it easily, then I would start another round of crying. On his birthdays and the day marking his death, it is another round of crying. My social media status will be filled with all sorts of mourning messages and crying years after his death, I never got over it in time.
This changed when I lost my closest aunt to birth complications a few years back as a result of doctors not detecting internal bleeding from a poorly handled CS. My aunt was my closest family member. We were so close that we would hold hands anytime we were going out, you would think we were in a relationship 😁. In fact, they were street rumours that some boys wanted to beat me up because I was the one that prevented my aunt from giving in to their love advances. We shared heart-to-heart talks almost daily. Sometimes we talk all through the night. We know everything about each other, she was my friend and I was her friend. When she had her baby, I could not see her properly because I was to travel to the east for a job and I had a little minute to hug her at the hospital, that was our last hug. I was called one hot afternoon as I was working that she had died due to birth complications. When I heard this, I went into shock. I did not know when I got outside and I was sitting on the floor. It took me a while to come back to consciousness. I stood and dusted myself. I could not work. I lost my appetite. That night, I cried my heart out, and I blamed myself for everything. I was to wrap myself in guilt, I should have been a better believer and all sort of things was flying in my head. This time around, the consciousness of my reality has been coming alive in me. I had learned the joy of the Holy Ghost. I had delighted myself in the Lord. I would rejoice and thank the Lord every time. Then, I will remember 1 Thessalonians 4: 13: ‘But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.’ — I Thessalonians 4:13–14
If your relative believed in Jesus, they are not dead they are sleeping in Christ and do not mourn without hope. The biggest testimony of their lives is that they believed in Jesus Christ, and they are going to rise again into the glorious lives we will live forever. So, rejoice for their lives and dance in victory, do not mourn as the earthen mourn. They have Zoe.
So, where are your loved ones right now? ‘Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.’ — Hebrews 12:1,22–24
Your loved ones in Christ as joined the cloud of witnesses, they are now the saints, they are the spirits of just men that have been made perfect in Jesus Christ. They are now cheering you on to run the race before you. They are telling you to do better and march on in victory. They are cheering you on to fulfil your purpose on earth and bring other people into Christ so that they can experience the resurrection they are now experiencing.
Because of my closeness to my aunt, I would see her in my visions, we would sing and rejoice, the last time I spoke to her, she told me clearly that no one should cry again and that she is in a better place. She loves it. That was it. I rejoice in the life she lived making a decision for Christ. I do not cry and say ‘’God why?” anymore. You have grieved enough, pick yourself up and march on in the glory of Christ. If your loved one did not believe Christ before they died, you cannot do anything about it right now, the best life you can live right now is to ensure that you bring as many into the salvation of Jesus Christ, bring them into eternal life, bring them to enjoy eternal rest in God here in this world and the world to come. Christ is the resurrection and the life. This is the same approach to my dad’s death. I rejoice in the life of God she received before he died. He is part of the cloud of witnesses right now cheering me up.
That dream with my ‘’dad’’ was a lie from the pit of hell. That was not my dad. A demon was toying with my head because of my reality then. Having dreams that your loved one is crying or in sadness or talking to you and you are sad afterwards leaving you in perpetual mourning and crying or leading you to dangerous things is not from God. You have to come out of it. March on in victory.
If you have not given your life to Christ, send me a DM. Make that decision today.
