The Kreins Family: the hope that we have

We go to the cemetery a few times a year for our loved ones that have passed. It is an outward honoring of their lives, how they are still "alive" to us in spirit and in our lives. My children will never meet my dad, nor my poppy, or see their nana anymore, (on this side of heaven) but they know about them through our stories, pictures, video's, etc... however we can, becuase this is important to us, to keep their spirit, their lives alive to us, to keep loving them, remembering them, because we WILL see them again. In our home we often talk about death, heaven, and the hope that we have through Christ that we will see each other, all of our loved ones past and present and be together in heaven someday for eternity. Speaking to our children like this spurs me on. Because when I am sad, overwhelmed with the here and now, I am awakened and jolted back to that reality of the hope, the joy that I have in Christ. Cause it is all about JESUS! Amen?! Check out these verses in the word.

Romans 5:1-11

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This time of year is a hard time for me, I have to say. Sept 9th I lost my dad, his birthday was the 4th of Sept and he passed away a few days later. My grandpa passed away on Oct. 18th, and he was very sick before his death and it was almost impossible to watch his suffering as he was going. Right now my family is going through various struggles and sufferings, as we all are right now, as we all will go through. I have to press in... I have to rejoice... I have to persevere... I have to choose to keep going. Becuase when I choose to press in, I am able to persevere, I am able to keep going. Because with Christ all things are possible. (Matthew 21:19). I cannot do this life on my own. I will lay down and give up on my own. When I lay it all down at HIS feet, saying, I cannot do this on my own, I cry out to you God, I need you, please help me... guess what happens... We are actually gonna start rejoicing, we are able to persevere. We have character built in us. We see hope. We know hope. We experience hope. We taste hope! Death, trials, sufferings, hard times actually bring us closer to knowing the true hope. I feel stripped down when I am going through a hard trial, I feel beaten down when everything around me is failing. But then I grab onto God, his power, and I stand up on my feet, and feel that hope that he gives and am able to keep going. What a loving God we serve!

These are some pictures of us visiting my dad's grave on Sept. 9th...