Hang in There

Hang in There, Homesick Heart

Lisa Heaton

Are you hanging in there? I received a message the other day from a sister who lives across the country. She poured out her heart, telling me how waiting for the rapture and all she’s seeing in the meantime is wearing her down some days. I could only reply and tell her I was feeling the same. Truthfully, when Covid struck three years ago, I thought we would be making our exit via the rapture soon, like, way sooner than this. I started ranting to people about how close the rapture had to be. Yet, here I am, still waiting.

I still believe it’s close, but close has taken on a new meaning these days. I’ve come to understand that close could be today, ten days, or even two years away. Considering all that’s at stake, that at our departure, lives will be traumatized and some lost, I must remember to keep “them” in mind, those poor souls who will be left behind.

Our waiting is based upon the goodness of a God who, in His mercy, desires that none perish but that all would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). I sometimes feel kind of selfish since I know what will befall “them,” and still I long for Jesus’ appearing each and every day. That longing doesn’t make me or my faraway sister or you selfish. In Titus 2:13, we’re told the rapture is our blessed hope, and 2 Timothy 4:8 promises a crown of righteousness for all who love His appearing. Our homesick hearts are longing for home. Yet here we all are, still waiting.

I’m hanging in there. On the longest of long days waiting, I remind myself that God can’t lie. He says He will come, so He’ll come! When you think of it, the entire concept of the rapture is preposterous. Seriously, the dead rising and the alive being caught up seems like some impossible fantasy–unless you’ve read the Word of God and see just how truly spectacular He has historically made a way. He’s been known to part a sea and part a river to deliver His people. He floated a family in an ark as a means of rescue. He took a prophet to heaven in a blazing chariot. All that tells me that a little thing like a rapture will be an easy feat for the Creator of galaxies.

The wearing down of us watchers makes complete sense, especially when we’re surrounded by rain clouds of doubting Christians, mockers and scoffers who try to convince us to hunker in a bunker stocked with food for seven years. Or Christians who say we’re already living in the millennial kingdom (yeah, whatever). Doubters abound, and rapture watchers get tired.

So my message to you today is the same as mine was to her: First, I admit I get worn too and need to focus on what fosters my faith rather than what fuels my fear. I’ll share with you the best advice I’ve been given (by the Holy Spirit), which is to watch less of the rising darkness and focus more on the coming Light. Rapture videos from various sources always encourage me and help me in the waiting. When life is going on day after day, it’s easy to lose sight of its certainty. I need reminders week after week. I have a small collection of rapture videos and articles by some of my favorite teachers on the Rapture page of my site. Maybe they will be the shot in the arm you need to remember that help is on the way.

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