There are three experiences that I have had that provided me with a wonderfully comforting consciousness that Heaven is for Real, to quote the title of a recent book. The first was when we still lived in New Hampshire before we moved to Virginia in 1981. It was first thing in the morning, and I was in a hospital room with a dear, dear, elderly friend named Elsie MacArthur, who had battled serious rheumatoid arthritis for a good part of her life, terribly crippled. She was dying and and had been unconscious for quite sometime. She had been a faithful follower of Jesus all her life. Suddenly she opened her eyes wide and looked up at the ceiling in the corner of the room. Her face broke out into a brilliant smile of recognition, and then she was gone. That memory has stayed vividly with me ever since,, andI realized that we mortals are still trapped in our bodies of flesh and blood, but that doesnt diminish the reality of what is occurring just beyond our vision. The second was when Bobs father passed away. He had battled cancer for sometime and he and Mother Julia were living with us so Bob could care for his Dad. He was unconscious, but we knew the time was running out for his earthly life. We were gathered around his bedside with Bob on one side and Grandma Julia and I on the other. His Dad also had been unconscious for sometime. The whole family was home for a reunion and some of the older children were singing and harmonizing in his bedroom. While they were singing the song, Maybe Today, he passed away. Julia spontaneously said, His soul is so beautiful! She has no recollection of saying it. But both Bob and I heard her say it and know that she was able to see something that was real, but just beyond the scope of usual human vision. That is such a precious memory--how near that other world is--just in another dimension that is usually invisible to the physical human eye. And that reminds me of another incident when Bobs Aunt Louisa and Uncle Ells were living with us actually in the same bedroom several years later where Uncle Ells also died. They had come because Uncle Ells had had a stroke which affected his mind so he was confused a lot and not able to express himself well at all. They had no children. He was now bedridden, and Aunt Louisa and I were playing Boggle nearby. I noticed that his eyes were open so I went over to see if he was comfortable. He had obviously been thinking, and he started to talk. Aunt Louisa then came over and sat on his bed holding his hand as he continued talking directly to her. As I realized he was making some rather profound and wonderful statements, I grabbed a pad and began writing as fast as I could to capture his words. As near as possible, here they are. There are some gaps because I couldnt write fast enough or remember well enough as he kept right on talking, and sometime he would grope for the right words, but he hasnt been able to express himself verbally so clearly and for long since he had his stroke nearly two years ago. He seemed to want to bring reassurance to Aunt Louisa. Here is some of what he said: We dont know very much. We know that God will watch over...God will take care...just as He lightens the way. God will take care of you. Thats sweet. God never leaves up on you. We take care of one another. Just take these promises. God will take care of us, to the right and to the left. GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU and BELIEVE THAT and He will do what you want. I cant tall how its going to end, but God will take care of you....Believe me right now, GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF EACH ONE OF US. Then Aunt Louisa and Uncle Ells and I sang together: God will take care of you through every day all of the way God will take care of you. God will take care of you. Then he began again: The promises that He has made to us--these are made according to His will. A voice in the air (says) Why this, why? I believe that many times the petition is what has already been promised that God will take care of you. These little promises or great big ones--theyre only guidelines for when the time comes. We cant tell, and thats the part that is so hard and big and cumbersome and all that. I myself can do nothing. All I can do is tell anyone else--Keep your eyes on the Son. Just one thing more. In my lifetime Ive had quite a number of times when the road was just too rough. (He lost his first wife.) But does he care? Theres the purpose--it has to be His way and His time. This is the Bible--He IS the Bible and then He will give us the peace in the Bible. Line after line, day after day, year after year, the same things have to come up. Hes the One. That means all the time. We cant say today we shall do so, tomorrow we shall do this. I cant make anything work right, but there is One thats willing to do this. But all of the time Hes been doing and doing and doing, one day at a time. You just need to keep in time in all ways all the time. In the hard times and the nice times. GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. I expect I can just (say) from the Bible verse after verse all night long. I have believed that since a boy. He was keeping some big promises for little boys to follow. I can say a lot of things out of the Bible that we dont know at the right time and the right place. But He does know. He also knows how to do it. Thats why I talk so much about the Bible. The God of all love. I know there is a God and He knows what He does, but we dont know what, when, where, why He does it. Thats our end--to teach us to stay in the center of His will. He will take care of you, but He has to do it His way--one little hill and one little valley so it all comes out right. God does it in His way, time, and place--not abilities but authorities--but not til were ready.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:57:45 +0000
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