I just returned home from a visit with one of my hospice clients by the name of John. When I arrived, I noticed John was in his bed with his oxygen hooked up to him. It had been a week since I saw John, and I could tell that he was getting weaker and that it would not be to many more days until he died.
I asked John, "What do you want to do today?" John told me that he really couldn't do much. I suggested that we could set and talk. John started asking me questions about death and heaven. John had told me in recent visits that he was a member of a small Christian church so I knew that at least he knew about Jesus.
I asked John if he knew for sure that he would go to heaven when he died. John told me that he hoped he would. Then John said, "Do you think He (God) will take me?" I asked John if he had ever accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. John replied, "Yes." I then explained to John that at the time he repented of his sins and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit entered him, and that was his assurance that he would have a place in heaven when he died.
For the remainder of our visit John and I talked about heaven and the joy we will have being reunited with loved ones that had gone before us. Before taking off, John asked me if I would pray with him. We prayed and thanked God for His promise of salvation and for Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.
I told John that if I wasn't able to see him next week, that I would see him again in heaven.
UPDATE: On Thursday, April 22nd, 2010, John went Home to be with the Lord.
15 comments:
What an awesome story and just what I needed today. To be reminded we will be with those we have loved and lost again. I love that old hymn too!! Blessings, Angel
Many of us are afraid of leaving this world, especially the rich one who are afraid to leave their riches behind. We are afraid to leave our loved ones, our family, but we seldom fear whether we'll be with the Lord. Thanks for sharing.
To me, that is the worst disaster...When someone dies not knowing Jesus. Your moment with bro. John is precious. How comforting it must be to be reassured by His promise of eternal life, through one of His children. Blessings to you.
good talk
Thanks Angel, RCUBEs, and n. davis for your visit and comments. God gets all the glory. I was just a vessel that our Lord was using. God bless, Lloyd
Thanks Chie for your visit and comments. I think that your comment was probably met for my post on "Will You Spend Eternity With God?" All believers will stand before Jesus to give an account of what they did on this earth, both good and bad. The terror of the Lord is the fear of standing before the Lord and having one’s life exposed and evaluated. Particularly if the believer was a back-slider or did not allow Jesus to shine through them and do "Good Works". The Judgement Seat of Christ should keep us on the right track knowing that we will be accountable for our actions. I hope this is a little clear to you. God bless, Lloyd
This is beautiful.
Praise the Lord Jesus for His Blessed Assurance. Lloyd, nice to 'meet' you on the blogosphere.
Yes our life should be built on the Solid Rock! God Bless!
This was indeed a powerful moment here, and that is truly what our lives here should be pointing towards. The lives we have here on on earth are only a shadowy reflection of that which the Lord has prepared for us.
I wanted to stop by and thank you for following my blog, I hope and pray you will be blessed and ministered to by it. Thank you again, and God bless.
Sounds like you got to be quite a blessing at just the right time. God is so good to allow us to minister to one another. This is a very significant time for John.
This is my first visit to your blog and I have to say it has brought me to tears. I lost my Dad last December to lung cancer and am still having a hard time. My dad was not a smoker and was sooo very healthy. By the time they found the cancer, he was already stage 4. He was gone within 7 mo. My Dad was not a believer and from the announcement of the diagnosis I had so many people praying that he would one day accept Christ. On the day before he went to sleep and never spoke again I sat with him in his hospital bed (at home) and grabbed his hand. I woke him a bit and asked how he was doing. he responded, just resting honey. I asked him if he was talking to Jesus. he said oh, not right now. So then I said "Daddy, do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?" He woke right up and sat up, grabbed my hand and put his other one on top of it, looked me square in the eyes and said "OH honey, I have ~ I already have" and with that he fell back asleep again. I ran into my room at his house to call my husband to share the good news. The glorious news.
Thank you for the work you are doing with these patients.....What a blessing you are to them!
Nice to meet you
It is so simple, yet so profound. None of us is worthy, but Jesus's blood covers our sins and gains us access to heaven. How wonderful to have that to look forward to. Nothing to fear, just wondrous hope and eternal life.
I want to thank you Christ-Blade, Gregg, and Christian Housewife for your visits and comments. I thank the Lord daily for His mercy and grace that He shows us sinners. It is so hard sometimes to believe that even up to the point of death, our Holy and Mighty God will forgive us and take us home where we will be with Him forever. God bless, Lloyd
Thank you Loren for your visit and comments. I want to personally thank you for sharing with us your testimony regarding your dad. What a wonderful God that we have that will wait by the door of heaven for us to come to Him, even on our death beds.
It is my prayer for you that our Lord will give you the strength and courage to continue in your faith. I pray that He will give you the peace, joy and happiness that only He can bring you, knowing that your dad is in the Loving arms of Jesus.
God bless, Lloyd
Our reassurance is, HIM!
Praise God!
And Nic Vujicic...I have featured him also....
Plus, On Christ the solid rock I stand!
Plus, Blessed Assurance..
Oh, its so wonderful to be a part of the body of Christ!
God is so good, even across the vast Pacific we find mutual believers in Him.
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