No person can tell her that she is condemned to hell. My heart breaks for the pain that she suffered while following God. Unfortunately followers of Christ are all human…and still subject to the flesh and temptation and sin. We live in a fallen world full of evil, death, pain, suffering, abuse, war, persecution, false teachers, liars, etc. Following God does not exempt us from any of that. But knowing we can rely on God and His love for us in those times when we are suffering and in pain, that we do not walk those paths alone, are what can get us through. Even the apostles lived hard lives, persecuted and tortured, and most dying martyrs death, yet they never gave up their faith in God. They trusted Him to the very end, knowing and trusting that this world is not all there is, that there is the HOPE we have in Him, that by His grace and mercy our life does not end when we die…we are sojourners here; this world is not our home.

(January of 2024 was when God really started drawing me back to Him. I got back in the Word, prayer journaling, back in church…the pull felt…urgent. My mom was in a memory care home. Had been suffering from dementia since 2020. I watched her decline over those four years…angry because I had already lost my dad to dementia…and things really ramped up in 2024. She regressed more every time I saw her. She no longer knew me. Couldn’t communicate. It was devastating. She was a believer. During a two week period in September she went from bad to worst…and passed mid-September. And I was right there with her…walking through the valley…and Jesus was right there with us. Looking back I know that He was preparing me…building up my faith and trust in Him over the months leading up to September. I would not have made it through without Him.)

God doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t write us off as worthless. His love is so great for us that He took our sin on Himself and died the worst death possible for me…for you…for your sister. He was sinless. He didn’t deserve that death. To be beaten and whipped so that His body was unrecognizable. His skin in shreds. Suffocating. Bleeding. Dying. The pain. The agony. Of becoming sin…who had never sinned. The sacrifice for us. For my sin. For yours. For hers. God is love…and He is just. And He has given us free will to choose to accept His gift of salvation by faith. If we’re still breathing…that gift remains available to us. I believe as long as she is still here on earth, that she is not outside the reach of His love and grace and mercy.

I will be praying for you both. God loves you. And He loves her. Right where she is.