If you are bearing wounds of suffering, do not lose heart, because someday your Heavenly Father will welcome you home.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I remember once being at an airport and seeing, at the check-in counter, a handsome man, somewhere in his mid-70s, wearing his Veterans of Foreign Wars hat cocked at a side angle. This elderly veteran was welcoming young soldiers arriving in the U.S. from Iraq and Afghanistan. Smiling, he greeted each one with a firm handshake and a hearty, “Welcome home, son.” These soldiers were battle-weary, and many were bearing wounds – lost limbs, burns, injuries invisible to the eye. It was so neat to see those soldiers salute that elderly gentleman and smile back. Samuel Rutherford once said, “Our little time of suffering is not worthy of our first night’s welcome home in Heaven.” And friend, maybe you too are bearing wounds of suffering. But do not lose heart, because someday – some glorious day – you will receive a “welcome home” like no other: the smile of your Heavenly Father.
© Joni and Friends