On Wednesday, September 9, I lost a lovely and beautiful sister because of infection that occurred right after a gallbladder surgery. My beautiful sister, Zenash Bezu Tadesse Kifetew, was a very healthy and active person but she departed from this life after a three week long sickness.
It was and still is a total shock to the whole family. I travelled home, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for her funeral.
We were nine siblings and Zenu was the 6th child (I’m the 8th child so you have some perspective). Now Zenu is no more with us that we are eight siblings.
God is sovereign! He is right in all His doings. Though I don’t understand everything God does, I know that He is always good for those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). So, I praise Him while I cry for missing my sister.
If tears could have returned the dead, my sister would have been returned back to us. Many people who knew her well cried a lot for her. But God didn’t design this life to be like that. My sister went to a place that she will never come back from. We go to her but she will never return to us. King David said this after he lost a son:
“I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:23b NASB
But I have a reason to praise and thank God while I’m wetting my cheeks with tears. Zenu, my beautiful sister, was in Christ. So, at this very moment, my lovely sister is at the Lord’s presence. What a wonderful place to be!
What better place do I wish for my sister to be than in a place where our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, lives! Praise God!
Thank you for all of you who have sent in your condolences in different ways. I appreciate you all much! May God bless you!
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”” Revelation 21:1-4 NASB
This is the hope I cling to!
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Amen!
So, I pray that all of you who are reading this and/or watching this video will be comforted by the Holy Spirit from any form of sadness or loss. Yes, we have absolutely no reason to be sad for a long time for we have Jesus Christ.
For those of you who don’t know Jesus Christ, oh, my friend, know Him. He is the only One given to human race. He is the only Savior given to us.
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12 NASB
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ” 1 Timothy 2:5 NASB
No one can save us from death and hades (hell) but Jesus Christ. We all are children of wrath, destined to go to hell. But if we run to our Savior, the One who died for our sin, we will be saved. Even if we die, we rise the dead and live forever because Jesus Christ said this:
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” John 11:25
May the Holy Spirit reveal to you this truth! ///