Confirmation (?) of What Lies Beyond

I was asked an interesting question this morning. In light of my experience with persons who are dying, have I ever witnessed anything that is a confirmation of what lies beyond death? Wow, that gave me pause for thought.

I have never been present when someone has seen a vision. Lois Loveless told me herself that she had seen Jesus standing across the room. No one has spoken of seeing a light or hearing voices.

I was with my mother, holding her hand, during her last hours. Her last words to my brother on the phone, and then to me, were “thank you.” She had already said, “I love you.” In those hours of sitting with her, I talked to her while she slept. I heard her breathing slow until I didn’t hear it anymore.

During Jeff’s last days, he didn’t really want anyone hovering around him. He wanted a short visit and then to be left alone. It was hard not to be able to be there with him as much as I wanted. It was his fear of pain that kept him agitated. Once they were able to ease his anxiety, he was more peaceful especially when some of his fellow faculty from St. Charles stood around him praying the rosary for hours.

So I have no confirmation in that sort of sense of what lies beyond death. I do believe to the depths of my being that eternal life doesn’t wait until death to begin. Our eternal life begins as we walk with God here on earth. We have glimpses of the joy and peace that will reign. When we come to the moment when the breath leaves our bodies for good, it is natural part of the journey of life. I haven’t become inured to or blasé about death by any means. I can still cry and be sad, but I can also have a sense of rejoicing and release, especially when the person who has died has been ill.

We are mortal, and every single moment of our mortal lives are lived within the care of the One in whose image we have been made, and whose breath is within us. That care will continue to surround us when our mortal life is ceased, and the eternal life that began in walking with Christ will continue in unabated joy and praise. That’s the confirmation I have of what lies ahead.

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.