My writing this week has been slightly delayed because Charlie and I are keeping watch as her mother passes through the valley of the shadow of death into her eternal home. This morning as I write these words Frieda is slipping away from this life and slipping into the eternal embrace of her beloved Jesus. It is a holy, difficult yet God-infused time, and His manifest Presence is palpable throughout the house.
Those of you who read my blog know that I have had a lot of very personal experiences with death over the past couple of years. These experiences have increased my understanding of life and death and especially my understanding of the Marvelous One who calls those who know Jesus into their eternal destiny with Him. The more we know Him, really know Him, the more marvelous, holy, awesome He becomes! I hope to write more about this some day, but today, I want to share wonderfully encouraging thoughts about believers who die from one of my favorite fiction authors, Robert Whitlow. The following thoughts are from his book, The Sacrifice, and are words that the pastor in the story (Ben) is sharing with his congregation on a Sunday morning. I smiled as I read these words at this particular time--perhaps they will encourage you as much as they have us. Listen in with me:
"One of the greatest lessons my mother taught me came at the time of her death. Now, there is no doubt that death is an enemy. Paul writes that 'the last enemy to be destroyed is death.' However, there is something even more remarkable about death found in the words of Jesus in John 8:51 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.'
"This verse troubled me for a long time. I mean, a lot of Christians have died in the last two thousand years. Didn't they have to face death?" My mother's last day on earth helped me to understand this truth....
"She had a sense that her time was time to leave was was close at hand, and our family spent her last afternoon on this earth together in her hospital room. About four o'clock, she gave a long sigh, and stopped breathing. At that moment a lightness entered the room, and there was peace in the atmosphere and on her face. Immediately the Lord reminded me of the words of Jesus and spoke to my heart: 'She didn't see death. She passed directly from this life to the next.' We all stood around and said good-bye. As one of God's children, she walked seamlessly from this world to the next." (pages 346-347)
I have seen and experienced the peace that Robert Whitlow's character speaks of, up close and personal, many times in my many years of loving and serving people. I have seen the release and freedom that is written on the faces of those who know Him and have rejoiced through my tears at the "seamless" transition into that God grants to those who know Jesus. Yes, death is an enemy, and it was never meant to be part of the human existent, and it is never convenient or pleasant to watch as whether it slowly creeps in or crashes into a human life. But for those who know their God, it is but a doorway into the full, face-to-face embrace of The One Who Is Love. And I am undone as I once again watch one I love step through the transformed door that our adversary intended for evil but that God has turned into the ultimate good.
Watching, weeping, waiting, marveling...
Tom, one of Abba's children
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