My sister arrived – we hugged.  She was exhausted from the last few days.  My father said, “Let’s go into the chapel.”  Then he asked me to pray.  I didn’t want to pray.  That was my husband’s job.  He was the preacher.  But he was still in Michigan.  I had flown to Georgia that morning by myself. 

I saw a Gideon Bible and opened it to Psalm 46 and read: “ God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.”  Then I read the whole chapter.  I didn’t want to pray – I had prayed all day on the plane from Michigan the verse in Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”  I prayed that for my mother who had suffered a major heart attack.  I believed she would be healed.  I talked to her on the phone the night before and she was scared.  She said she prayed with a preacher on TV, and I was thankful for TV preachers.  I prayed in faith that she would be healed.

But, when the nurse came in the cold, dark waiting room outside the ICU and said, “Mitchell family?” I jumped up and said, “Yes!”  And all she said was “No” and shook her head negatively. Not I’m sorry – no hug for me – just “No!” That was the most deflating, agonizing word I’d ever heard.  And there was no one to turn to. 

I knew mother was gone.  I needed to wake Daddy up and tell him.  Suddenly, I was the strong one.  I could not fall apart like I wanted to.  I woke my father from the green metal bench, and we went in to say goodbye to my mother, his wife, for over 40 years.  The wonderful woman who loved him and stayed by him through years of his struggles with alcohol addiction.  She was the rock of our family.

I thought God gave me peace all day that Mom would be healed.  I just didn’t realize at the time that the perfect healing was for Him to take her to heaven.

Was this a time of joy? Not at the time.  For me it was a confirmation that God reigned supreme.  He brought comfort in His word and assurance of His love. 

A friend of mine died this year on the anniversary of my mother’s death. This brought back memories of my first experience with death of a close relative – my mother.

Also, my grief is still tender of losing my husband two years ago.  Although his death was sudden, he had suffered for several years with a terminal condition. We knew he was growing weaker and frailer. But you are never prepared for the final breath.

We buried my husband’s ashes last month. It was a sweet time of remembrance with family and friends. I shared the inscription on the tombstone in the video below.

Death is an enemy.  We all want to live and enjoy our families and our lives on this earth.  But we also know that we are all going to die sometime. As those who are followers of Jesus Christ, we have this hope:

 I Corinthians 15:50-56

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you don’t have that victory in Jesus Christ, my prayer is that you will seek His peace to live and to die in Him.

How have you experienced loss in your life?  How did God bring you peace?  How did He bring healing in your family?