Not Now!
Feb 4, 2024 | by The Fellowship
My mother-in-law was a lovely Christian lady. Her husband died at the age of 50 from lung cancer, but she chose to remain on their farm near Rosebud, Texas – a small town that is south of Waco. With many a helping hand from my husband through the years, my mother-in-law managed to generate income from the farm, remain independent and live to be 92.
In the last year of her life, one day she was walking across the family room floor with her walker and somehow stumbled, causing a bad bruise on the paper-thin skin of her leg. In no time, the injury developed into MRSA, a deadly staph infection that is very difficult to treat. All who know and love her began to pray!
She was in the hospital first and then a nursing home. Because of the MRSA and the poor circulation that the elderly so often develop, her feet (including toes and toenails) began turning black. Her coughing became so bad that during a prolonged incident, her stomach twisted and pushed into the chest cavity (something I had never heard of). The result was more terrible coughing and inability to eat. The doctors very solemnly said that she would not survive surgery, so there was nothing more they could do that would prolong her life.
Then one night, her heart stopped. But after applying emergency measures, the medical personnel got her heart to once more resume beating. But we knew the end was not far away.
When my husband arrived a few hours after the heart stoppage, his mother excitedly said: “I want to tell you something! I have just been to heaven!” Then she began to eagerly relate to him about all the family members who had gathered around to greet her when she arrived there. She also talked about interacting with Jesus. “He brought something white and laid it over my feet. Then He looked at me and said, ‘Not now!’”
My husband lifted the covers from her feet. He was astonished to see that nearly all of the blackness was gone. Also, his mother also had been battling a hole in her leg, a wound that would not close up no matter what was tried. That hole also had been healed. What a time of rejoicing it was for both of them as they kept talking about her experience in heaven.
His mother had been a nervous person all of her life, but after the near-death experience, she was totally calm and peaceful. The doctors, of course, had no explanation for this healing that had happened in an instant.
But my mother-in-law still was not able to eat or even drink fluids. The medical personnel tried to keep her hydrated with IV’s, but every time a needle was injected into a vein to start the flow of liquids, it would pop right out. Eventually they gave up on IV’s.
It was eight more weeks before Jesus took her back to heaven – eight more weeks when she had nothing to eat or drink. It is seemingly impossible to live that long without fluids or nourishment, but the Bible is very clear that “nothing is impossible with God!”
How we rejoice in our memories of this special lady! And we continue to be awed by her preview visit to heaven!
… all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:16 NIV