Grandma's Hope

I bless God as I have not one fear concerning death. The gracious, almighty Lord, who has so wonderfully granted me life to the present moment, will not forsake me in my last days.  Indeed, when flesh and heart fail, He will be the strength of my heart, and my portion forever!

When I was a young girl, my parents came home from the mission field partly to care for their elderly mothers and partly because the country was closing to missionaries.  My father went back for an extra year to make final preparations for the church to function on its own in a country that was becoming very hostile to Christians.  While he did that, my Mother cared for his Mother in our home.  Grandma Mahaffy had many medical issues and severe dementia.  I don't remember a great deal, but I remember the confusion, constant calling out, the physical problems and the restlessness.  I remember the great patience my Mother had with her and I remember my brothers helping to feed her and taking turns sleeping on the floor by her bed at night to make sure she was cared for and safe.  I knew death was close, and with childlike faith I prayed that God would allow me to be with Grandma when she died.  I never thought another thing of my prayer and months later came a day when I was very disappointed that my Mother would not allow me to play at a neighbor's house because I needed to help with Grandma.  Sometime later in the day, as I nursed my bitterness, I walked by her door to find it shut.  This rarely happened and when I tried to go in, my brother told me to stay out.  That order was rescinded by my Mother who told him to let me in.  What I found was my Grandmother being supported upright in the bed, with her mind perfectly clear and her face shining gloriously as my Mother and brother prayed and sang hymns to her as she passed to her heavenly home. 

I will never forget the look on Grandma's face as long as I live!  There was no doubt in my mind that she was entering her heavenly home.  This was my first remembered experience with death, and I have always felt that God answered the prayer of that little girl and allowed me to see the beauty of her transformation in preparation for my work as a nurse and as a wife to my husband as he died later in life.

In all my years of nursing, I have particularly enjoyed working with cancer patients and often cared for them at death.  My goal was to never let anyone die without someone there with them; thus many were the patient's hands that I held as they neared death.  In all those experiences I have always said, and will say to this day, that when death was upon a person, it was always clear whether or not they had faith in God's provision of a heavenly home.  God gives His peace in the time of death.  Of that I have no doubt.  As John Blanchard said, " So he (God) supplies perfectly measured grace to meet the needs of the godly. For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming needs, overwhelming grace. God's grace is given wonderfully, but not wastefully; freely but not foolishly; bountifully, but not blindly."

Ah, death is a subject we don't like to think about, but perhaps we should more often.  I believe my cancer gives me an excuse to blog about my random thoughts of death.  I know thinking of it makes me much more aware of what time I have left and my use of it, something I regret not focusing on more in the past.   As I was contemplating this on a recent night when I was up due to pain, I decided to look up all the passages in the Bible on death.  What I found was such a great comfort.

Of course, the classic is from Psalm 23, which you really can't pull just one verse out of.  I am rereading a book by Phillip Keller called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.  It so enriches this chapter to see what a shepherd does for his stubborn, wandering ungrateful sheep and relate that to Christ who walks in the valley with us.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  I will fear no evil, for you are with me;  your rod and your staff,  they comfort me.   You prepare a table before me  in the presence of my enemies;  you anoint my head with oil;  my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me  all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

A promise from Isaiah 25:8;    He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,  and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,  for the Lord has spoken. 

From Amos 5:8 a description of what the One who made the constellations does with death;  He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name.

My daughter recently shared a quote from Tim Keller, "Just as Job’s patience in suffering turned him into an example that has helped hundreds of millions of people, and just as Jesus’ temptations prepared him for his history-changing and world-saving career, so God’s Spirit leads us into our wildernesses for our good."    That reminded me of my all time favorite verses about death from Job 19: 25-27;  For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;  And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,  Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! 

May my testimony always be that I trust in the knowledge that there remains a rest for the people of God and that I know that my Redeemer lives. May I proclaim, "O Death, where is thy sting!" That I know there is laid up for me a crown of life! And that when comes the time to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will indeed fear no evil for His  rod and  staff will comfort me. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord!  As Paul says in Romans 8:38, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. One day, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  (Revelation 21:4)

"Give me the wings of faith to rise

Within the veil, and see

The saints above, how great their joys,

How bright their glories be!

"Once they were mourners here below,

And wet their couch with tears,

They wrestled hard, as we do now,

With sins, and doubts, and fears.

"I ask them whence their victory came;

They, with united breath,

Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,

Their triumph to His death.

"They marked the footsteps that He trod,

His zeal inspired their breast;

And following their Incarnate God,

Possess the promised rest!

"Our glorious Leader claims our praise,

For His own pattern given;

And the long cloud of witnesses

Show the same path to Heaven!"

"There shall be no night there! They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever!" Revelation 22:5

(Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880) While in this world, our weary bodies require the refreshment of sleep; and our merciful God has graciously given to us this sweet restorer of strength. Often we have retired to rest, overcome with fatigue and anxiety, perhaps distressed with pain--but sleep has taken away these feelings, and we have risen the next day in health and peace, to serve our God with joyfulness.

On a bed of sickness, this text has often been a source of comfort to the believer, "There shall be no night there!"

But there will be no night in Heaven, because there will be no need . . .

  of rest from labor,

  of relief from pain,

  of solace and refreshment under fatigue.

The former state of things will have fully passed away, and one eternal unclouded day will have dawned upon us! Our spirits will then be made perfect--and at the resurrection our glorified bodies will rise, no more to be a clog upon our souls' enjoyment.

A night of pain and wakefulness, is often a time in which God teaches His people. In the midst of active employment, the soul is not at leisure for reflection; and in the short periods devoted to retirement for prayer and meditation--the thoughts are often strangely distracted by what has gone before, or by the anticipation of coming events. But in a night of weariness and pain, there seems to be a rest from outward things; the soul is brought to a stand before God--it must think, it must reflect, it must examine itself, and ask if all is safe for eternity--if it is in Christ, if it is prepared to die.

Blessed result of pain--if led thereby to seek the Lord Jesus, and find rest in Him! Blessed result of pain--if led thereby to meditate on Heaven's eternal day of rest!

"There shall be no night there!" No wearisome hours of discipline--no learning the dark intricacies and windings of our heart, and the deceitfulness of sin. There shall be no night there--no night of error, no darkness of soul, no dark unbelieving thoughts of God, and of His ways; but all will be clear, bright and shining to all eternity! The way by which the Lord our God has led us, will then be seen. The retrospect will be clear--we will see that our path has been a safe and right one, and we will glorify our gracious God! "He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." Psalm 107:7

(Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880)