Dear Trudy,
My husband, John, suffered terribly for the last two years of his life with complications from diabetes.
He never lost his faith, despite having his leg amputated and an uncontrollable infection from the wound.
Toward the end, he grew very weak and was often sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day. But one day, when he was wide awake and extremely clear-headed, he called me into the living room and asked me to sit beside his wheelchair for a minute.
He took my hand in his and said, “I have something I need to tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else until after I am gone because they will think I am crazy.” I nodded and he continued, “Dad is gone, right? He’s been dead about 10 years now?” Again I nodded. “Well, he’s come to see me several times in the last few days and we have talked. He is coming to get me. I don’t know when exactly, but it will be soon.”
Then as I began to cry, he kissed me and told me how much he loved me, but that he was ready and he wasn’t afraid.
We didn’t speak of it again, but I lost him less than two days later. He slipped away during his sleep. But I knew that his dad had finally come to get him because he died with the sweetest smile on his face.
Lynn
Dear Lynn,
Can you imagine for just one moment the all-loving, all-gentle and all-merciful God who would allow you to experience this great moment with your wonderful husband right before he went to heaven?
While on this Earth, we cannot begin to understand his closeness to us and the magnitude of his loving heart. I never tire of hearing of the exquisite experiences that he makes available to us in so many intimate and differing ways.
It is as though he is tapping us on the shoulder and saying, “Do you know this is me?” To be welcomed home to heaven by a loved one must be one of the most treasured experiences of life, one that God alone can make happen.
Your husband saw his father and he knew he was coming for him and he was unafraid; how powerful. As a patient once told me, ‘Trudy, there is no such thing as time. Dying is like walking from the living room into the dining room; there are no beginnings and no endings.” The kingdom of heaven is all around us all the time. Stepping into heaven is simply going home to God and our loved ones.
Blessings,
Trudy
Trudy gets so many questions from Guideposts readers, we decided to make her answers a regular feature on her blog. If you have a story about a “glimpse of heaven,” please share it with us. Send it to glimpsesofheaven@guideposts.org.
