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The question should be "Can you imagine that?" My maternal grandmother's second language was English, and so with a thick and heavy Lithuanian accent she would often say things that made us laugh as young children. We were not laughing at her as we really loved her, but we were laughing with endearment and joy because some things were just incredibly cute without her realising this. These memories form bonds and are special to cherish when relatives are no longer here. Speaking about relatives, recently I did a DNA test after years of being against such things for privacy reasons; eventually my curiosity got the better of me. Before conversion I was a blood donor, organ donor, yearly vaccination recipient and, in addition, happy to inject staff and clients as part of my nursing duties. The ways of the world were eagerly embraced without much thought and therefore my old life was fully steeped in pagan worldly practices rather than ever having any thought of God.
Once converted the questioning began because I no longer readily accepted what was supposed to be good for me and/or others according to ungodly worldly systems. Since the time of being called by God in 2006 everything now gets filtered through the pages of the Bible, through prayer, and by fasting for the dilemmas, puzzling tests and trials, until reaching God's will, much like those who are truly following Christ. My conscience is intact and quite sensitive since baptism and now I am able to see that it had become grossly desensitised due to sin and ignorance. With the aid of God's Holy Spirit comes righteous understanding with Godly knowledge and wisdom (Proverbs 1-3) therefore I fully desire to keep it that way, as prior to this I lived a life of self justification for almost 50 years. That is quite a long time to draw from in order to see and compare, much less notice such a difference and contrast in embedded behaviours. Nowadays my thoughts go straight to "What does God say?" instead of "What do I think?"
If any of my family were still alive they would be most likely traumatized by the recent news of the sudden attack on Israel and the war in Ukraine. My mother was just a young girl, not quite kindergarten age when the war broke out in Europe, with an older and younger brother going through things that should not be experienced by youngsters at the hands of wicked monsters under the influence of evil and terror. Thankfully they were all able to escape due to certain circumstances which remain mysterious and rather sketchy. My older uncle spoke once about how wonderful the American soldiers were by giving the children chewing gum and things that they had no idea about. Uncle Bob was hardened by the interruption of his childhood, never married, and lived a very quiet life by keeping to himself. He was a man of simple needs and very grateful to be living in a peaceful country. Mostly, that side of the family did not like to speak about the war and the scant things they did share could be counted on the fingers of one hand. As I consider these things now upon reflection with the aid of hindsight, it is evident that they must have had various degrees of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Circumstances around their survival are dramatic and in times of war people choose to do what they perceive they need to do in order to survive despite not ever imagining these circumstances or thinking they would even succumb or stoop to unspeakable things best left unsaid. Even so, there is no doubt whatsoever in my heart and mind that God ensured their survival in order to carry out His will and plan. This is something that had never even occurred to me until recently. Močiutė's (Granny's) words come to mind in these end times, and for each time there is an assault to our senses with news involving matters such as war, homosexual marriage, the way people live in hedonistic lifestyles and all that goes with it, cancel culture, Artificial Intelligence, the move to a cashless society, growing homelessness and poverty despite working, and many other diabolical things. She would be shocked at all of it exclaiming "Can you manage that?"
No Močiutė I cannot manage it or indeed even imagine things could become so dire, but here it is nonetheless in these times right before the return of our Saviour Jesus Christ. To have the Bible and understand prophecy is a huge blessing which brings with it great peace in knowing God has everything under control for His great purpose in His perfect plan for humanity (John 14:1, 27). Furthermore, the fact that our omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God only allows certain events and conditions to transpire, is also of such comfort. Without this there would definitely be confusion, anger, anxiety, despair, and many ugly thoughts influenced by deception in our hearts and minds much like the vast majority of the world is currently experiencing under the influential sway of the devil (1 John 5:19). If I could give my relatives comfort and truth via a sermon it would be from this link: https://www.ucg.org/sermons/peace-on-earth-but-not-yet
It would be an understatement to say that there is a lot of hurt and pain going on around us for which we go to God in prayer. The following Scripture spoke prominently to me this week as part of my reading programme for which the timing is not lost on me. Psalm 121:1-8 "I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore". How good it is to know that God has a hedge around His children which brings to mind further scripture in Job 1:9-10 when the devil wanted to have his way completely with God's righteous servant Job, but was curtailed or limited to a certain extent for testing purposes and to ensure Job's survival.
Given that we know God is benevolent, and full of love and mercy towards us, we continue on in our personal preparation for the time ahead when peace on earth will prevail because at last Christ will ensure that His Kingdom is established here on Earth and His rulership will be exactly what we all need. We have this to look forward to after all the sighing and crying is done during this temporary life and, as if this was not enough, we have the time ahead after the millenium when all our relatives will live again at the Great White Throne Judgement spoken about in detail in Revelation 20. As bad as things are, we reflect on those who went before us such as Abel, Lot, Joseph, Deborah, Noah, Job, Daniel, Abraham and Sarah, David, Ezekial, Isaiah, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Stephen, and many others mentioned in our Bibles in addition to those given honorary mention in Hebrews 11. It will be most exciting to see our ancestors, relatives, friends, and neighbours who are now no longer living. Once Granny comes to know what we lived through it will be no surprise to hear the words from her mouth "Can you manage that!"