With great sadness I must report that my dear sister in Christ, Julie Cain, passed from death to life after her long battle with cancer. In an article I posted April of 2015 I wrote, “God is able to use this trial to prove His faithfulness through Julie’s life so that all might know the joy one can have in Christ. God is able to use the Cain family testimony to reach people who want nothing to do with God, but in seeing the joy in the Cain family, they are drawn by God’s lovingkindness and are united with Christ in salvation. God is able to use this trial in Julie’s life to do so much.”
I stand behind these words today and can attest the faithfulness of God in using Julie’s short life to put on full display His glory and grace. Julie had a joy about her that was so evident to all that knew her. Her faithfulness to love her Husband, children, family, and friends was apparent and visible. Her eagerness to know Christ and bring Him glory was seen in her faithfulness to His church and gospel witness to everyone she met.
Julie died physically today, but because of Christ, she has never been more alive.
While all of these things are true about Julie, we must understand that what made Julie’s life exemplary was not found in her. Rather, what made Julie’s life exemplary was and is Jesus Christ. It was Jesus Christ who sought her and bought her with His own blood (Gal. 3:13-15). It was Jesus Christ who was molding her into His own image, teaching her that she must decrease and He must increase (John 3:30). It was Jesus Christ who was teaching her, guiding her, and providing for her day by day as she sought to bring Him glory (Col. 1:17). It was Jesus Christ who was with her when she found out that she had the dreaded disease of cancer and it was Jesus Christ who comforted and ministered to her in the final moments of her life here on Earth (Ps. 23:4; Rom. 8:38-39).
And it is Jesus Christ that she will worship today, tomorrow, and forevermore. Unhindered by sin, she will sing His praises for all eternity because He is the Lamb that was slain and to Him belongs glory, honor, and power (Rev. 4:11). So dear friends of Julie Cain, do not be deceived. When Christ said “It is finished!” He ripped out death’s fangs so that we might not feel the sting of death eternally when we place our faith in Him. Dear friends, don’t miss the point here: Christ has eternally defeated death. And because He has defeated death, all those who place their faith in Him will too. Julie died physically today, but because of Christ, she has never been more alive.