Daily Reading 23

"Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'" -John 11:40

Jesus was pretty good friends with this family. They were a brother and two sisters. At this moment, Martha is confused and seems to be ticked off at Jesus. Her brother had just died and she had expected Jesus to be there. I think she even expected him to prevent it. She even confronts him with it, "If you had been here..." -John 11:21.
I've had moments like this. I remember being 13 and standing on my front porch just minutes after my mom passed away. Yelling at God made me feel good. Anger and disappointment filled me completely. I didn't get it. Four girls ages 10-18 needed their mother. Didn't God understand that? Like Martha, I think that my impression was that if God had been there, there would be no death.
Jesus then tells Martha that her brother will rise again. I think I would have fallen off the porch if Jesus had told me that! I wonder if Martha thought that he was nuts! He tells her that she has a choice to make. She has to decide if she will believe him. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." -John 11:25-26. Martha had to choose to believe.
What I started to understand as I began this journey with God, is that he was there at those moments. AND he had something to offer me if I chose to take it. He offered continued life with Him even after we die. Even though my mom didn't come back to life when she passed away, I have hope that I will see her again in the afterlife. If God isn't my God in the face of death, how is he God any other time?