The Blood That Binds Us!

But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.  I Thessalonians 4:9

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, the Lord is my God.  Zechariah 13:9

So how can you not see people for years on end and then connect to them like it was just yesterday that you saw them?  Not just people, but family.  All afternoon I have thought about this.  Not a random thought that has just popped into my head, but from an experience that I have had over the last couple of days.  We hugged and I felt the same kind of love that I feel from the family that I see on a regular basis.  We said “l love you” to one another and we meant it!  It was not just words and affection that were appropriate for the event that surrounded us, it is how we feel…it is who we are!

At first, I would say well it’s my family, we are connected by blood, and that is just the way it should be.  However, I would be wrong in my thinking because I know other families and it is not like this, in fact, I have talked to friends about this and they don’t always get it.  They don’t seem to have this same connection.  It may be the way it should be, but it is not always the way it is.

The connection…well I got half of it right.  It is blood, but not ours, but rather the blood that was shed by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross.  You see, we are a family and while we all are the result of the union of William and Margaret White, it was their love for Christ that they instilled in our parents and our parents instilled in us and so on that connects us.  We are a family, not just because we are a member of the “Whites”, but because we love and serve Jesus Christ and that love that He freely gives us is what pours out of us onto to each other.

The experience I am speaking about is the passing of my precious Uncle Jimmy, my dad’s oldest brother.  He was so kind-hearted and every memory I have of him is one of him always making me smile or laugh in some way…very similar to my dad!  I know he will be missed dearly by so many, but oh what an imprint he has left on so many hearts!

During this time with my family I found myself looking around at everyone and thinking about the difficult times that many of us have been through or are going through, and I also thought about the things that maybe we all don’t know about one another.  As I was thinking about this the thought of my family praying overwhelmed my mind.  It wasn’t about us praying for anything in particular, but just us praying and how powerful we are when we unit in prayer…we are prayer warriors and I know at any time I can call any member of my family and within minutes I have hundreds of people praying…I know this because I have experienced it firsthand.

I had a dream a couple of weeks ago about my Grandma White and while I have shared it with a few people I feel like I need to share it with everyone.  I original thought it was just for me, but I now realize that I was simply the messenger.  The dream started off like any other dream, a little strange.  At first I was in this rather large place with many people that I have worked with, then they introduced this man that I could see to begin with and I knew him, but then when he began to speak it was like I was no longer there but I was able to hear what was going on.  I started to hear this man sing and I told the people that were around me (people that I didn’t know now) that man’s voice sounds just like my Papa White, I kept trying to look, but I never could see anyone, all I could do was hear him and it became clear to me that it was my Papa singing and I just begin to enjoy listening to him.  Then these ladies came out and said we better start cleaning up and put everything back like it was, you know how she is about her things.  Somehow I knew they were talking about my Grandma and she really did like all of her things in order.  So I began to help but chairs back in place.  Now I could see the place a little clearer.  It was white and clean everywhere I looked and the furniture was very ornate.  The chair I was moving was gold, had lots of detail, and a red velvet seat.  When I finished moving it, I said to the others well let me go tell Grandma bye.  So I walk over and meet her.  We begin to hug one another, I held her as tight as I have ever held anyone.  My arms were around her shoulders and her arms were around my waist.  We just held each other and I could feel the tears just pouring down my face, yet she never shed a tear.  She said “Rosanne, everything is going to be alright, it’s going to be alright.  You always know that I call all your names out every day.  I call all your names out every day.  Every day I call each one of your names out.”  All this while I could still hear my Papa singing in the background.  Then I said Grandma I have got to go now, I have got to wake up and get ready to go to work.  I then woke up. 

This was the most real dream that I have ever had and I will never be able to put into words the realness that I experienced while hearing my Papa sing and feeling my Grandma’s hug.  I woke up with a type of peace that I have felt so deeply.  Even while writing this my heart flutters with the thoughts of this experience.  I know without a doubt that Heaven is a real place, I know that my Grandparents and my Uncle Jimmy are there, but until this dream I have never thought about anyone calling my name out to God while in Heaven.  You see, I don’t understand how God works all the time, but I do know he is real and I do know that he sent his son to save us and to teach us how to love one another---and boy, did our Grandparents love us!  After much thought, I can’t imagine my grandparents not talking to God about us…after all, he gave us to them and I know they prayed for each one of us daily while on this earth.  And I know that I heard my Papa singing and I know that my Grandma hugged me, I don’t know how and I will probably never be able to fully explain it, but I know it was real…I felt it!

With all this I have come to realize that I have the privilege to talk to my Father anytime I desire, yet I do not take full advantage of this opportunity.  Think about that for a minute, we can talk to the Savior of this world anytime we want, yet we don’t.  You see I had this dream after an afternoon of prayer with my Father.  It was more like a time of me pouring out my heart with not many words for about 2 hours and then He gives me the dream. 

Family, I don’t know about you, but I have a powerful weapon at my fingertips that I am not using like I should, like I have been taught to.  So as we once again go our separate ways I would like to challenge each of you to use this mighty weapon, a weapon that our grandparents and parents have used to get us all to this point.