As a “final act of stewardship” we completed our wills this week. We’ve attempted this important endeavor many times over the years. Knowing our children will be cared for, according to our wishes, in the event we both die, is a burden lifted that I didn’t even realize I was carrying until I was relieved of it. Our lawyer suggested we write a “Christian Preamble” to our will. These are often posted in public documentation… so writing this was another final act! This is a bit early… (I’m not dead yet!)… LOL… but I wanted to share it. The reality of “an end to this life” is summed up well by the Psalmist as a prayer to God.
“So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 NKJV
Preamble to the will of Jamie L. Herrera
My life wasn’t perfect. Yes, I know that is obvious! But I figured if I am no longer living on this earth, this statement was going to be the last voice I got. I hoped to steal your attention in an effort that my final words may actually be read. I wanted nothing more than my life to have been a testimony to the grace and mercy of God. “O death where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). At the moment I wrote this, a young woman of only 32 years, I was so eager to meet my Savior, Jesus Christ, whenever he called me home. The Bible assured me that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. I believed that with everything inside of me!! There is no sting in death, because it meant a sweet homecoming with my Lord!
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). Please don’t misunderstand the meaning of “saint” here. I was no “saint” in the eyes of perfection. But I was a child of God, saved by the blood of Jesus. That made me His saint, and means I am acceptable to God. I was clean by the blood of Jesus, even though I’d made many mistakes in my life. The reality is, I did not earn my salvation. It is what God did for me on the cross of Calvary, which I accepted by faith, that gained me entrance into an eternal heaven. Yes, don’t miss that… it’s through faith I was saved (by God’s grace to me). Faith in a God who I had never seen or touched… faith that His word was true… faith that Jesus Christ not only died, but rose again… faith that even though I had many failures, I was not condemned because Jesus stood in my place, to die as the punishment for every mistake I made. Please understand this, even thought I had never “seen” him, I had seen his amazing work in my life. I had been changed, made new! My homecoming was precious to my Lord, and at the time of this writing I had complete faith it was going to be beyond amazing to me!
