Broken Branches: Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The next thing I knew, I was someplace I had undoubtedly never been before that still felt strangely familiar.  It was like I belonged there, and I cannot recall ever feeling so much at home.

Adding all the more to the strangeness was not seeing another soul anywhere around while not feeling utterly alone.  As if on cue, my guide visibly appeared before me and started talking in an audible voice instead of just in my mind.

I did not really hear what He was saying, though.  For I was too focused on a recitation in my mind of what I later found to be the New American Standard version of Isaiah 48:3.  “I declared the former things long ago.  And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them.  Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”

No, one does not appear to have anything to do with the other, but the point being made to me was that our Heavenly Father is constantly telling us things in one way or another.  Such was my feeling of not being all alone before I was shown that I was not.

“So, my dear Daniel, what do you think of your family tree to the extent you were shown?”

Without even thinking, I blurted out, “In a manner of speaking, not all that much to write home about, but I was fascinated by the journey.  There were parts of it that were sure hard to take, though.”

The look in my Guide’s eyes was a mixture of mirth and sadness.  I immediately regretted what I had said.

“Go take a close look around, Daniel.  Then tell Me if you still feel the same way.”

I was instantly surrounded by people for as far as I could see.  I do not know if I was transported somewhere else or if they were already there and I just could not see them before.

I suppose it does not really matter, either way.  What does matter is that they were all from my family tree.

I suspected that I was in Heaven, but the first group I approached made me wonder if the Catholics might have it right about Purgatory and this is where I was really at.  For they were all Jews from the Moldovan village I first visited on this journey, and I could not remember any of them giving any indication of accepting Christ Jesus as truly being their Messiah.

It was the same with each group from my family tree, and when I really thought about it, there were less than a dozen who might have qualified as a Christian.  Yet, here I was surrounded by thousands.  In fact, almost everyone I had met during my journey through time was there.  How could this be?  I was so confused.

“In partial answer to your question, my dear Daniel, I created all of mankind to spend all of eternity with Me here in My Kingdom of Heaven as heirs to all that is Mine in glory.  There is no other reason for mankind to exist.”

“How are you?”

“I am appearing before you now as the Lord Jesus Christ.  I also manifest Myself as the Lord God Almighty and My Holy Spirit.  I prefer to be referred to as Heavenly Father, though.”

“I thought only those who accepted You as their own personal Lord and Savior while they were still physically alive made it into Heaven?”

“This is true.”

“So, how is it possible for so many members of my family tree to be here when so very few showed any indication of being a Christian, and I observed a great many of them up until they died?”

“Yes, but you did not see everything.”

“What did I miss?”

“It is not your fault.  For you were not meant to observe My final approach of those who had not yet accepted Me as their Savior.  It happens during the instant before they physically die and enter the Spiritual realm.  What you naturally consider to be time is suspended while I ask the lost one last time if they want to be saved.  Tragically, far too many remain convinced that they are in no need of Salvation.  They go to Hell to await Judgment Day, which is when they will be cast into the Lake of Fire.  Those who accept Me as their Savior sleep in their graves until the time comes for Me to gather all of My children by faith unto Myself to spend all of eternity with Me here in My Kingdom of Heaven as heirs to all that is Mine in glory.  As you can see, quite a few of the broken branches on your family tree humbly accepted My offer to be grafted into My family tree, which will never die.”

“I thought it was supposed to be a vine?”

“Are you trying to get smart with Me?”

“Sorry.  This is all so very disorienting, and I lost my place.”

“Understandable.”

“Why did You take me on this journey?”

“In a manner of speaking, I wanted to give you something to write home about.”

His eyes were smiling, but what He said still stung.  Be assured that I was very thankful to catch sight of something that took my mind off of my complete humiliation.

“Speaking of home, is that my adoptive dad and mom over there?”

“Yes.”

“Did they die while I have been away on this journey?”

“No, they remain very much alive in your timeline.”

“You told me that I started out in 1700 according to the Julian calendar.  What year is it now?”

“3175.  The material is gone, and it is after Judgment Day.”

“Did my dad ever reconcile with his daughters?”

“No, he kept trying, but Starla made it abundantly clear that to reconnect with him would be a betrayal of her and a forfeiture of all Jonathan had to offer.  Since your dad’s love could not compete with Jonathan’s money, Daisy and Lana kept rejecting their father’s advances.  They rejected Mine, as well.”

“So, Daisy and Lana are not up here?”

“No.  They would not accept that they had dishonored their father, among other things they needed to repent of.”

“Then how can my dad be so incredibly happy without them also being up here?”

“He has no memory of them ever existing.”

“WHAT?”

“It is the same for all of My children by faith after they enter into My Kingdom of Heaven.  Their old lives are over, and all memory of its pain and suffering has been erased.  Their new lives full of love and joy had begun, and it is to them as if they have always been here.  Tell me, how could anyone be truly happy here if one of their beloved was not?”

“I do not think they could unless You did something.”

“They could not, and I did do something by erasing all memory of their life in the material realm.”

“Why did we have to live in the material realm?  Could You have not created mankind to live here in Your Kingdom of Heaven to begin with?”

“Oh yes, I could have very easily done so, but I wanted to receive a very special kind of love from mankind.  Therefore, I created the material realm and mankind to live in it as they naturally were in order to give mankind opportunities to give me the full benefit of their considerable doubts while I promised that the great pain and suffering of the material realm was as nothing in comparison to spending all of eternity with Me in My Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is Mine in glory.”

“I am sorry.  I still do not understand.”

“Tell me, my dear Daniel, would it be easy to love me if you had of never known anywhere else but here, where there is nothing but boundless joy, where there is no pain or suffering, where there is no hunger or thirst, where there is no strife, where there is no disease or discomfort from it being too hot or too cold?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Was it not very different in the material realm, where it naturally seemed much more likely that I created most, if not all, of mankind to be the objects of My scorn—certainly not My affections?”

“Well, I did not consider my life there to be all that bad in comparison to others, but I understand what You are asking.  So, in answer to Your question, no, it was not made so easy to love You in the material realm.”

“Just how good could even what was naturally considered to be the best of lives have really been when they were meant to end?”

“I had never really thought about it because my life was going as well as expected and I believed that I had here to go ro when it ended.”

“There was a lot that you never took time to think about despite what I was showing and telling you since the womb.  You witnessed the suffering of others, but because of what you had been taught by others in My name, you shrugged it off as just being them reaping what they had sown.  Tell Me, what had you done to be so proud of your accomplishments if what I have said is indeed true about there being nothing good about mankind apart from Me?  Yes, you worked hard for what you had, but if what I have said is indeed true about Me being all-powerful and in full control of all that happens, would not all of your accomplishments have been because of My efforts—not your own?  For what could you have ever done if I had not allowed and enabled you to do it?”

“I…I…I do not have an excuse for being so blind and deaf.  Neither do I have an excuse for my arrogance.  Please forgive me.  I hope Your grace is sufficient.”

“I assured you that it is, and I am sorry My rebuke sounded so harsh.  Your Spiritual ignorance is more on Me than you.  For I let you and so very many others be led astray by demonic doctrines making it seem that mankind was mostly on their own in that world, with the most destructive doctrine being that I only directly spoke with a select few before I stopped speaking altogether when the canon of My Holy Scriptures was complete.  This was necessary to accomplish My purposes.  Just like My rebuke of you just now.  For as it was with all of the others, you have sound reason to naturally think that I was being grossly unfair to you, but instead of seeking to defend yourself, you humbly repented, which is exactly what I wanted to accomplish in and through mankind.  Granted, the love you have for Me right now has been greatly influenced by being brought here, but you were still genuinely willing to give Me the full benefit of your considerable doubts without regard to the consequences, either to the good or the bad.  It is for this reason that I hid Myself from the sight of mankind in the material realm.  For some would have only wanted to bow down before Me out of fear of what I could do to them if they did not while others would have only bowed down out of greed for what it could personally gain them.”

“Please understand that I mean You no disrespect.  For I know that You are all-knowing and all that comes with that, but I think my reaction had more to do with stupidity than humility.  For with You continuing to talk to me like a regular person, I have yet to completely wrap my head around You actually being the Lord God Almighty and be greatly afraid, and in regards to all I could personally gain from sucking up to You, the thought never occurred to me, which proves just how stupid I am.”

Again, I was talking without thinking, and when I realized what I had just said and to Whom, I wanted to find the largest rock around and see how far I could crawl under it.  Alas, there were none to be found, but what happened next proved that I was in no danger.  For instead of striking me down, our Heavenly Father erupted in a belly-laugh that left me a little wobbly on my feet and wanting to blurt out something else.

“I was taught in church that You are above and beyond emotions as we feel them, but I am beginning to wonder if this was another demonic doctrine.”

“Come with Me, My dear Daniel.  I have something I want to show you.”

As if I had been properly prepared for everything else, I was certainly not prepared for what happened after I took His hand.  For we flew up on top of a high ridge overlooking an enormous lake, which sparkled as if filled with crystals.

It is indeed not at all true that I am above and beyond feelings.  Behold, this lake holds the tears I have shed down through the ages over the unnecessary pain and suffering of mankind.  No, this is not to say that they brought all on themselves.  For the material realm was never meant to last but for a little while in comparison to the whole of eternity, and it was always meant to be full of pain and suffering.  Nonetheless, if more had of just wanted to truly listen to and humbly accept what I had actually said was absolutely true, the pain and suffering would not have been nearly as bad.  I assure you that I never placed more on a person than they could bear, which was widely taught, but what was taught about that was corrupted by the great influence the devil and his demons had on what was generally accepted as being Christian doctrine.  For what was widely taught was that I would not allow someone to be tempted by sin beyond their strength to resist when what is really being conveyed through that verse is that I would not allow someone to be tempted to commit the unpardonable sin, which is the rejection of Me and My Gospel, beyond the strength I was giving them to resist.  Even My Gospel was corrupted by demonic influence.  For it was generally presented as being in response to sin entering into the material realm, which was never meant to happen, as if I was making up for a mistake.  How could this be true if I truly am who I have always claimed to be?  For if I am indeed all-powerful, could Satan have tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit and she actually does unless I allowed and enabled it to happen?  If I am indeed all-knowing, would I have not known what was going to happen even before the treacherous thought crossed Satan’s mind?  If I am indeed always-present, would I have not actually been there when it happened?  Furthermore, if I am indeed perfect in all of My ways, how would it be possible for Me to make a mistake?  Yet, millions upon million praised My name in church while calling Me a liar by believing that I HAD to die in order to save mankind from the wages of their sin.  No, I had not made a mistake that I felt obligated to rectify.  Everything that had happened in the Garden of Eden was part of the plan I set into motion long before I laid the foundations of the material realm.  I knew that Lucifer would rebel and lead a revolt of a third of the angels against Me long before I created him and them.  I placed a strong delusion in them so that they would want to torment mankind.  If I had not done this, none of them would have wanted to have anything to do with mankind.  Really think about this, if the devil and his demons were left to their own devices, would they want to do anything that might cause a person to want to become closer to Me, and is this not what usually happens when one is being tormented?  No, I did not create mankind to sin, but I did create them without the natural ability to resist sin.  It was the work of the devil and his demons to exploit natural weaknesses in order to make the sins of mankind all the more egregious and far less easily dismissed.  I established My Law to make it even easier for mankind to know that they had sinned and in desperate need of a Savior.  Now, brace yourself.  For there is something you do not yet understand that will come as quite a shock after all of the misguided indoctrination you were exposed to.  My Crucifixion was unnecessary to redeem mankind.  For with the Law being Mine, I could have just issued a general pardon.  In fact, I could have not made the penalty for sin be spiritual death to begin with, but I wanted to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that I loved mankind enough to die for them by going ahead and actually doing it, which went farther than what most want to believe.  For the penalty for sin was spiritual death—not physical death.  Therefore, I had to spiritually die in order to fulfill the full requirement of the Law, and for those few seconds, from the time I cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, to Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit, I was spiritually dead and separated from the other two parts of Myself.  That was the first and only time We have been apart, and We were in more agony than can be naturally comprehended.”

I recall hearing some insist that You spent three days down in Hell to wrest away the keys to life and death from Satan and offer Salvation to the lost souls suffering there.  Was that part of the agony You experienced?”

“No, it was only My physical body that spent three days in the grave to fulfill the prophecy connecting Me with Jonah.  My descension into Hell comes from a misunderstanding of what was given through My Apostle Paul that is actually referring to Me descending from Heaven to dwell for a time on Earth in the flesh.  The part about Me offering Salvation to those suffering in Hell comes from a misunderstanding of what was given through My Apostle Peter that is actually referring to Me preaching through Noah during the time before the Great Flood to the disobedient who were in Hell at the time that piece of Scripture was placed into written form.   Regarding the keys to life and death, I have always had them.  For there is no life apart from Me.  No, it is not at all true that I had to go down into Hell to do anything, but it can be said that I was present in Hell.  For I remained with everyone until they ceased to exist.”

“What are You saying?  I thought all who did not accept You as being their Lord and Savior were spiritually dead and went to Hell after they physically died.  I even remember reading Scriptures saying so!”

“I had My Scriptures written in such a way that was meant to combine with fleeting thoughts from My Holy Spirit to encourage as many as will to want to truly seek for Me to learn more.  What you were taught and read for yourself was not full truth.  For when one accepted Me as being their Lord and Savior, it was as if they were saved, but they are not actually saved until after Judgment Day and were welcomed into My Kingdom of Heaven.  It was the same with the lost.  For it was as if they were dead in their trespasses and sins, but they did not actually cease to exist until they were cast into the Lake of Fire on Judgment Day.  If it is indeed true that I am everywhere that exists all of the time, how could it have not been that I was in Hell for as long as it existed, and if it is indeed true that there is no life apart from Me, how could I have not remained with those awaiting judgment, regardless of where they may have been, for as long as they existed?  It was different for the lost in Hell than it was while they were still physically alive, though.  For I was always with everyone who was physically alive, and even though someone would refuse to acknowledge it, they never had a feeling of being utterly alone, which is a feeling more terrible than can be naturally comprehended.  This is what I felt when I was separated from My other two parts, and this is the feeling that the lost in Hell experienced until they are cast into the Lake of Fire and ceased to exist.  For I was still with them, which was keeping them spiritually alive, but they could no longer feel Me.  This was the great wrath that I poured out upon the wicked, which had much more to do with My heartbreak over their rejection of Me than any sort of righteous indignation.  There was much about My Scriptures that was woefully misunderstood.  It would have been quite different if they were meant as written instructions for mankind to follow, but I never wanted mankind to be on their own.  Tell Me, what did you think when you heard mention of the Word of God?”

“Something to do with the Bible.”

“Exactly as the devil and his demons wanted you to.  Whereas, the absolute truth of the matter truly is that I am the Word of God, and I Authored My Scriptures to provide written confirmation of what I wanted to personally reveal to each and every individual.  Just when and to what extent depended on what I wanted to accomplish in and through a person, but all were meant to be taught by Me, with My chosen servants only being called to testify about what I had revealed to them.”

“Whoa, having a better understanding of that would have changed almost everything!”

:Not as much as you are thinking, but My chosen servants echoing what I had been already personally revealing makes it more and more impossible for the wicked to plead ignorance.  Come Judgment Day, none of them will be able to honestly say that they did not fully understand everything I wanted them to.”

“Wait a minute, your tenses changed from past to present, as if Judgment Day has not occurred yet.”

“Yes, we are transitioning back to the timeline when you took your flight off of Boston Mountain.  For I still have much I want to accomplish in and through you, with a big part of that being a book about what you have been experiencing on this journey.  I assure you that you will be back here to stay for all of eternity soon enough.”

“I suppose I have no choice in the matter?”

“No more choice than you had about being created in the first place.  By the way, have you not been wanting to ask about all of the others who were gathered around your adoptive dad and mom up here?”

“Now that You mention it, who are they?”

“They are their descendants up until the end of the material realm.”

“From my dad’s daughters?”

“Not all of them.”

“Well, it’s about time you rejoined the living.  Who were you talking to?”

No, that last statement and question did not come from my Heavenly Father.  When I opened my eyes and saw who had spoken, I almost fainted.  That is, if one can actually faint while lying on a hospital bed in a slightly inclined position.

Anyway, I could swear that my Great (six times over) Grandmother Claire was standing there next to my hospital bed, and I was curious about her initial statement to me.

“Was I dead?”

“Not according to these machines you are hooked up to.  In fact, you have been become quite a sensation in the medical community because of surviving your horrendous crash in such good condition, other than appearing to be in a deep coma while your brain activity has been off the charts the entire time you have been here.  By the way, would the soles of your feet be rather ticklish?”

“Yes, very much so.”

“Thought so.  Do you see that boarded up section of the wall over there?”

“Yes.  What happened?”

“Well, Dr. Candeleiria was having too much fun checking your response to external stimuli one day when you kicked him through that glass panel.”

“Oh, I am so sorry.  Is he all right?”

“Yeah, the worst thing hurt was his pride, which needed a little bruising.  We lowly nurses tried to warn him that you were awfully ticklish, but the pompous jerk informed us in no uncertain terms that he knew what he was doing.  You became our hero after that, and we all fought over who would get to take care of you while you were here.  I won first choice of the four shifts, and here I am in the even more envious position of being the first to see you open your eyes!  I suppose I need to be rushing off to inform the doctor on duty, but I have been praying so hard to be able to actually talk to you.”

All I could do was lay there and smile at her, and it was a genuine smile.  For I was o enjoying listening to her ramble like she was trying to squeeze hours of conversation into just a few minutes.

“Your name would not happen to be Claire—would it?”

“Nope, it says right here on my name tag that my name is April Reinhardt.  Dawn is my middle name.  Was that who you were talking to about descendants?”

“No, Claire was someone I was around, who looked identically like you.”

“Is she no longer alive?”

“No, and she is part of a long story that I would rather not start telling while I am in a hospital.  For when the doctors start hearing it, they might insist on me being transferred to a psychiatric ward before the tale could be fully told.”

Oh, I would LOVE to hear all about it.  I assure you that I am normally not so forward around boys, but I have developed like a school-girl crush on you, except for there not being a hint of shyness to it, which I find very strange.  It is almost like I am drawn to you!  Anyway, I hope you will soon feel the same way about me.”

“I must admit that I cannot imagine me developing a school-girl crush on anyone.”

I had a grin on my face when I said that, and April’s reaction was absolutely perfect.  For she rushed out of my room giggling, and suddenly, the proverbial dots between what my Heavenly Father had said about my dad’s descendants and April connected in my mind.

No, He did not actually say anything, but I could swear that I could almost see Him grinning from ear to ear.  So much for a stoic, absolutely no-nonsense Lord God Almighty—huh?

I did not actually hear anything, but April must have been hollering about me being conscious.  For a whole herd of nurses stampeded into my room, and they were followed by several doctors pushing their way to the front.

“How are you feeling?”

The question came from a doctor busying himself with checking the readings on the machines I was hooked up to.  Before I answered, I looked for April’s face in the crowd gathered around my bed, and when I saw her roll her eyes, I knew that my answer would not really matter to the doctor.

“I am feeling just fine, sir.  In fact, I am ready to get out of this bed and go home now.”

“Not so fast, young man.  What is the last thing you remember?”

“Well, I remember driving off of the side of Boston Mountain to avoid slamming into the wrecked school bus, flying through the air, hearing my rig crash through the tops of some trees at the bottom and then nothing but blackness.”

I was about to launch into an account of my journey, but I distinctly heard my Heavenly Father tell me that now was not the time.  So, I changed the subject somewhat by asking, How long I have been here, and when can I leave?”

“Your flight off of Boston Mountain happened exactly 90 days ago.  You were found still sitting behind the wheel of your truck, with only the cab remaining intact.  It looked like someone with a saw had sliced off everything in front and behind of your cab and scattered it in a million pieces up to a quarter-mile away.  Do you have any idea just how lucky you are to have not even suffered a scratch?  Of course you don’t.  For you have been in a kind of coma that there seems to be no record of ever happening before, and you will not be released from this hospital until we have a better idea of what happened.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a delightful bedside manner?”

The immediate chuckling coming from the surrounding crowd made it clear that it did not need to be explained that I was being sarcastic.  I still regretted my outburst, but seeing April’s beaming smile made me feel much better.

No, there was no smile on the face of the doctor with the delightful bedside manner.  He just grumbled under his breath and pushed his way back through the crowd to leave.  Most of the others left with him, but April was not budging an inch, which made me very happy.

An older nurse also remained in my room, and she asked me if I would like to see if I had enough strength to stand up.  When I nodded my head that I did, she and April started arranging the monitor wires and IV tubes attached to me so that I could get out of bed without tearing something loose.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not just feeling fine.  For I came out of that bed completely unassisted as if I had not spent the last 90 days in it.  In fact, I felt completely normal for me, which was far better than most, and I asked if I could take a walk down the hallway.

The older nurse told me that I would be more than welcome to after the wires and IVs were unattached.  She said that I also needed to be reintroduced to solid foods after being fed through an IV tube for so long, and how well that went would determine when I could be set free.  I so wished she was my doctor.

When the older nurse left my room, April remained, and this made me very happy.  Yeah, it seemed that I was developing something of a crush, myself.

“Have I really been here 90 days?”

“Yes, Daniel.  I was on duty in the emergency room when the Medivac chopper brought you in.  It was just a precaution, though.  For we were all astonished that you appeared to have not sustained any injuries, but there was the little matter of you being in a very deep state of unconsciousness.  It all has to do with that long story—doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does, April.  I promise to tell you as soon as I can after being released from here.  What are you doing being a charge nurse when you are qualified for the emergency room?”

“Oh, it would seem that you know a little about hospital protocols.”

“Not really.  The question popped into my head, and since I have a natural tendency to speak without considering what may be coming out of my mouth, here we are.”

April had to stifle a cackle of laughter before answering, “This hospital is very good about rotating nurses through extraordinarily stressful areas to help prevent them from becoming burnt out and quitting too soon.  I wish they were better at rotating more incompetent doctors out the door, but I suppose that is too much to wish for.  Hey, you obviously have a special relationship with God.  Would you ask Him what He can do about it?”

“He would much rather you ask Him, April, but we will discuss it later.”

“Well, you certainly have my curiosity working overtime.  I am going to have to go pull all of the strings I can get ahold of to get you out of here as soon as possible!”

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

“Oh, where you a fan of the A-Team?  I had a serious case of the hots for Murdock.”

“MURDOCK?”

Have you ever taken a good look in mirror at yourself?”

With that last crack, April literally skipped out of my room.  No, I do not look anything like the actor playing the character of Murdock on the old A-Team television series, but I knew what she meant.  For neither do I look anything like the actor who played the character of Face on the show, who was a certified pretty boy.

The next morning, the older nurse and April came back into my room and started removing my IVs and monitor wires.  April asked me if I thought I could handle eating some oatmeal for breakfast, and when I told her only if it was edible, she shrugged with a grin and bounced out of my room.  Even the older nurse had a grin on her face, but she did not say anything.

When April came back with my breakfast, she was followed by different doctor, who was much more pleasant to deal with.  He told me that all of my vitals looked excellent and that a physical therapist would be by to test my strength levels.

I evidently passed all of the tests well enough.  For April was pushing me out of the hospital in a wheelchair, which she said was required, that afternoon.  I was prancing about like an idiot on the sidewalk as soon as she said that I could stand up, though.  Yeah, that would have been a good time for her to run back inside of the hospital screaming.

Nope, there was no getting rid of April from then on.  While she was driving me up to my dad and mom’s place, I started hitting the highlights of my journey, and she told me that she would disown me if I did not have a long talk with at least my dad as soon as possible.  I was already of a mind to do that, but it made me feel so good that she was so sensitive to my dad’s heartache.

I had wanted to surprise my dad and mom by just showing up back home out of the blue, but I was the one who received the biggest surprise.  For they were all there, the whole Newman clan still above ground, and they acted a lot more thrilled to meet April than to see me!

No, no one had called ahead.  I asked, and everyone said that they just had a strong compulsion to be there at the time.  Yeah, I was quite sure where that came from.

They were all mesmerized by my journey, but I left out the part about my dad, Starla and his daughters.  When I talked to him and mom about it privately later, I saw him cry for the first time in front of me.

I was not sure of whether or not I should say about seeing them up in Heaven surrounded by their descendants, but I knew that I had done the right thing after I did.  For a light came on in my dad’s eyes that shined brightly for the rest of his days in this world.

Oh yeah, April and I became husband and wife, and here I sit trying to finish this book.  No, I have not received any assurances that it will be well received, but I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that it will be as it should be in the end.  For our Heavenly Father is very good at mending broken branches.