Heaven Is Better…

Psalm 62:1-2  My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 

Psalm 63:3  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

One of our new phrases around here is, “Heaven is better”! We say it to each other as a reminder (every day) that although this journey is hard…it is not the end, our story will go on into eternity.  Heaven will be better than anything we have here on earth…It Is Better!!  This kind of belief is not easy.  It’s difficult to hold on to this truth when I long to have Warren here, on earth, with us.  However, it is now our life long aim to BELIEVE that Jesus is better…better than family, job, friends….

Warren has ‘BETTER’!!!!  Better means Jesus….. Jesus, only Jesus!

This has not always been the conversation around the Barfield house..I mean, we have all trusted Jesus with our lives and believe that through His death and resurrection we have Eternal Life, our sins are forgiven..but did we long for Heaven?  Did we talk about how amazing Heaven would one day be? Honestly…No?!  Not like we do now..and yes, part of that is because we long to be with Warren again.., BUT  more importantly, I am learning through His Word that Jesus is better..and because of Jesus I get Heaven!!

Oh, our precious Warren…wondering what 3 months in Heaven is like.  Time here on earth these past 3 months have been harder than I could have ever imagined.    Yet with each day, I am encouraged to hear about the lives that have been impacted and changed for His Glory.  The basket full of baseballs is a huge reminder to us that Warren’s life was not wasted…For those of you that don’t know, the baseballs pictured below were a kind gesture from our community of friends and family last month on January 24th (2 month mark).  They wrote messages on baseballs and dropped them in our yard throughout the day.  Amazingly meaningful and a powerful message of how God is continuing to work ALL things for His good…During Warren’s service one of the pastors shared the gospel and invited those in attendance to take a “stand” for Jesus…Adults and kids alike were touched that day by a prompting of the Holy Spirit to surrender their lives to Jesus.

                   #ISTOOD UP

Baseball has always been a HUGE part of our lives and as this season gets started all around us, it hurts my heart that my boy will not be playing.  We had such a routine of things around here with baseball.  Our uniform had to be perfectly clean and perfectly belted anytime it was worn.  Bill used to tell Warren that dressing the part was half the battle.  He would lay Warrens uniform out before each game  🙂  (this should make some of you smile…)  Bill was in charge of getting his white pants clean before each game…(Bill was very particular about these things…)  If nothing else, Warren was the sharpest looking on the field! As time would prove, however, he also had skill and we were so proud of him!!

I will miss these days…But I am also challenged to continue sharing and stewarding Warren’s story.  I want others to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that ‘Jesus Is Better’!

 Bill is going to help coach the Hurricanes this season through SBMSA.  Warren played on the Hurricanes for 2 seasons.  The Hurricanes took the championship by storm, his first season on the team 🙂

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Our Spartans have also begun their 2015 season…So many memories and good times cheering on these amazing boys.  ‘Once a Spartan, Always A Spartan’… #12

 

I cannot end this post without acknowledging our amazingly talented Grace!  This last weekend we traveled to Dallas for our first ever NCA!!   We left Friday morning and drove right into snow, sleet and slippery roads…

It was not my idea of fun…

I had determined I would listen to a little Louie Giglio, and John Piper on the way, but half way through the trip I ended up turning on  1080AM for weather and traffic updates…Eek?!? It was touch and go, but we made it!

The weekend was…lot’s of people, loud music, food, sitting, waiting, cheering, and lot’s more people!!  Not to mention wake up calls both mornings at 4:00am.

After Warren died, I think Grace missed a total of 2 or 3 cheer practices.  She has been so brave and her amazing cheer team and coaches have been a huge support system for her.  She was determined to fulfill her commitment to her team and I am so very proud of her!!  NCA was a wonderful experience and her team placed 6th out of 11 teams.  The competition was good, so we were all extremely pleased with the end result!!

Warren would absolutely have loved celebrating her achievement…walking in the door yesterday was extremely difficult, after being away from home all weekend.  It was almost like the reality of our situation slapped me in the face once again…Life is different… Warren isn’t here…

So I have found myself repeating these phrases a lot today…

“Jesus IS real”  “Jesus IS Better”  “Heaven IS Better”