Let no one say she lost her battle…

On January 1, 2013 I wrote about one of our friends who was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2012. He passed away on February 20, 2013 at the age of 55. He was in hospice and surrounded by family when he took his last breath. His wife said it was very peaceful. She took their four-year old granddaughter outside to comfort her and they both saw a brilliant white light with scalloped edges in the sky – the wings of angels! Angels had come to take him to Heaven! Even the little girl could see it! Now I have just finished studying a book about angels with my women’s group, the Daughters of the King. We learned that angels are all around us, guarding us. Some people are given the privilege of seeing them. I have never seen one, but I know from Psalm 91 that God sends angels to Earth to watch out for all of us and keep us safe.

     On February 24 we attended his funeral service and it was the most uplifting celebration of a life that I have experienced in a long time! There was time for friends and family to share their thoughts, so I told the story of the aloe plant that bloomed for him in December (see blog post of January 1, 2013). Of all the people who spoke, no one said, “He lost his battle with cancer.” This is significant and this is EXACTLY WHAT I DON’T WANT SAID ABOUT ME WHEN MY TIME COMES TO GO TO HEAVEN!! I am winning my battle and I don’t plan to go to Heaven for a long time. I am having too much fun here on Earth!!

    You may ask, “But what about your friend who died at age 55 only four months after being diagnosed?” And I answer, “Everybody’s battle is different and, more importantly, everybody’s spiritual walk with God is different.” Don’t forget that the terminally ill are still on their spiritual journey, still walking with God and learning new things about Heaven and Earth up until the time they take their last breath! Perhaps that is why my terminally ill mothers stopped speaking. They were learning about the glory that awaits them in Heaven, seeing things that we on Earth can only imagine and wouldn’t understand if they told us. Perhaps there are no earthly words to describe Heaven and the sights that they saw! When the terminally ill take their last breath, they are not abandoned by God!! Far from it!! God agrees with their decision!!

    It says in Isaiah, in the Bible, that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and God’s ways are higher than our ways. I wrote about this earlier, July 8, 2010, about why bad things happen to good people, and on August 7, 2010, in my entry entitled “21^st Century Version of Job”. (You can scroll back to ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of the blog and read these.) I said, “I don’t know the answer; I will ask God when I die and go to Heaven and that is soon enough for me. In the meantime, I am here on Earth to enjoy life, and to bring a little sunshine to the lives of people who cross my path.” That sunshine, by the way, is actually God working in my life. If I can show the awesomeness of God to someone who doesn't know a Supreme Being, than I have done my part to spread the good news of God’s Kingdom.

    In Corinthians, Paul says that the wisdom of Christ appears foolish to the wise men of the world, and the wisdom of the world is foolishness to the Christian. For those NOT suffering from a terminal illness, it is difficult to understand why we can say, and believe, that our disease has been cured when medical tests show that it is still present in our bodies. Well,Isaiah 54:17, a healing scripture, says, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” It may form, but it won’t prosper, it won’t hurt us. God is still in control.That is only one of hundreds of healing scriptures. There are many that say nothing is impossible for God. If He opened Sarah’s dead womb again at the age of 100, and she bore a child, just think what miracles he can do in our bodies! And all we have to do is believe! It is so simple. For the believer who renders control of his life to God, there is no losing the battle against a terminal disease! There is only the glory of God as your life unfolds to do his will before you leave the Earth! There is only joy awaiting us on the other side! The only one who loses is the ruler of the earthly world, whatever you call him in your spiritual walk – Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, Sower of Evil. He loses because he loses our souls – they belong to God!!

    At my brother-in-law’s memorial service in 1985, a descriptionof death was given that has always comforted me. I don’t know who wrote it originally. It likened death to sailing away from a familiar shore, with loved ones and friends waving goodbye until the sails of the ship disappear on the horizon. And as soon as they disappear from the familiar horizon, they immediately appear on the other shore’s horizon. And there are people on that shore waving, to welcome them; loved ones who went before them, angels, Jesus, and God!

    Pictures show the new fairy sculptures in the garden and a new fairy solar light. And what would a Celtic sculpture garden be like without everyone’s favorite childhood fairy Tinkerbell? We also transplanted our knockout rosebushes from containers into the back flower beds and they love it! See all the blooms?