In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that “I go to prepare a place for you.” That is a promise we have clung to and is so familiar to us. We need that assurance. It is our hope for Eternity, to spend it with Him.

While we would never choose a difficult journey, a hard path, it is in those places we experience the sweetness and kindness of our good and loving Father. It is in the ugliest place I see Him as most beautiful.

Growing up, Mama Kate would spend months preparing for Christmas and Thanksgiving. The floors were scrubbed. Bed linens starched…windows were washed… food preparation. She made fruitcake in November to  “ripen”. She thought it was better after it had been wrapped and placed in a tin. She made oyster dressing. There was a jello ribbon salad that we thought was beautiful. She brought out her best china and the beautiful green glasses. She put her best tablecloth out and decorated her dining room table. She loved the preparation.

Pappy would go to the woods and cut a fat cedar tree. He preferred cedar over pine because of its fragrance. The string of big multicolored lights came out and were placed on the tree. Decorations hung. Wreaths on the door. 

They worked for a month preparing their home. Preparing a place for our family.

That’s what our Yeshua does. Not only in Eternity, but in this world too. He prepared a place for our family of faith heroes. We read their stories over and over in the Word. I like to think of the life stories of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Moses, Esther, Ruth, and on and on. Always the Father going before them, preparing a place.

Baxter and I have been on a hard journey these past months. It is one we never would have chosen. Baxter has experienced a health crisis. But in these months, Father God has gone before us and prepared every place we were taken to. From the largest decisions to the smallest detail, His Grace went before us…prepared the place we came to…and He sustained us.

The love of family and friends…the comfort and support we received…provision…conquering difficulty…every time…every single time…He prepared the place.

One of the greatest opportunities we receive is to give God glory. That’s what I’m doing today. There is no way we could have worked circumstances for our good and His Glory, but He has…and He continues to do so every day.

He goes before us and makes the way. In every place we find ourselves, He has prepared that place for us.

Blessed be the Name of the LORD God Almighty!