| He Saw Jesus' Face © Betty Sue Eaton |
| A Christian Grief Ministry |
He removed the oxygen tubes from his nose and said with absolute awe, "Ma, who is that
man over there? I don't think I have ever met him in my room! He is so beautiful! He is so
bright!" Those were the words my son, Richard said the day he lapsed into a coma
before his death later that night. I looked toward the wall where he was pointing and saw
no one! I just thought it was another hallucination of the cancer that wracked his body
and mind as it had many times before in the recent days as I visited him for the last time.
Once he "saw" part of a gold chain lying on the floor and tried to leave his bed to get it. I
told him I would get it for him. He rested. Then his hand began to move across the sheets
as though he were keying a computer keyboard while the other one scanned down an
imagined list of items he was reading from. He owned a computer service company so it
was in character for him to be concerned with it. It was no coincidence that he would see
a non-existent person standing at the side of his bed either. I say "non-existent person"
because I couldn't see what he saw!
We had talked many times at length about heaven, and Christ, and God, and salvation,
so many other things related to the hereafter. One topic was a recent one: That his
eldest son had died in a motorcycle accident a year before. Barrett was not a Christian.
Richard had tried to reach his son without positive results ~ or so he thought. However,
as he was going through Barrett's effects, he found a Christian tract in the wallet. He
knew then that Barrett had been saved but had not finalized it by accepting Christ as his
savior publicly and being baptized.
I told Richard that I could not go through the grief of losing his son for him. That this was
one that Mama couldn't fix for him. He would have to go through this one himself, but I
would go through it with him. He just said, "Ma, I'm okay with Barrett's death. I know he is
at home with God and Christ in heaven! I asked God to take care of him and He did! He
took my son home!"
Was it coincidence that my son would see Christ standing in his hospital room? Was he
really seeing our savior as he transitioned from our world into the holy presence of our
Lord God? If I were to judge from the look of pure rapture on his face and in his voice,
and I do, I would have no doubt that Richard was seeing the face of Jesus leading him
into the presence of God the Father as we spoke!
Was it coincidence that I witnessed that moment? That I was present in the room as my
son gazed upon the face of Jesus Christ? Absolutely not! For the past two years and
eight months, I had gone from blaming a family genetic anomaly to blaming God for the
impending death of my only son. I was very angry and helpless as I was forced to stand
by and watch my son dying by degrees of renal cancer, helpless to do anything to help
reverse the ultimate end or ease his pain.
There are no coincidences with God. He orders everything in our lives. Every thing! Life,
mates, children, career, and death. Not only does He order everything for those who die
but for those of us who remain to live out God's plan for the rest of our lives. I needed to
be shown the power of His will. I needed, like Thomas, to see the nail prints in His hands
almost. So what I witnessed in my son that day brought about an epiphany in my life, a
total turnabout and acceptance of Christ dying for me and now living in me! That day
totally changed my belief system about heaven and dying. That was no coincidence! It
was Christ teaching me a lesson that I needed to learn! And I learned it well! It still thrills
me today ten years later!
So my dear grieving friends, as I told my son upon the death of his son, “I cannot go
through (the work of) grieving for you, but I can and will go through it with you with all my
prayers that you may find peace and comfort with your loss. I cannot say that I will never
feel sad or lost or lonely at another death in my family, but I will say that the grief will not
be selfish or self centered as before because I know that my dear absent loved one is at
peace with our Lord in heaven, and I would not want them to wait another day in pain for
that supreme joy. I can hardly wait for my own homecoming to experience what I saw in
my son's face that day. What an incredibly happy day that will be!
It is my prayer for you that you also may see the Lord's face through your prayers and
that you will find the ultimate peace and comfort through our savior, Jesus Christ, who
died for our sins. He promised and He will never fail in that promise. ~ Betty
man over there? I don't think I have ever met him in my room! He is so beautiful! He is so
bright!" Those were the words my son, Richard said the day he lapsed into a coma
before his death later that night. I looked toward the wall where he was pointing and saw
no one! I just thought it was another hallucination of the cancer that wracked his body
and mind as it had many times before in the recent days as I visited him for the last time.
Once he "saw" part of a gold chain lying on the floor and tried to leave his bed to get it. I
told him I would get it for him. He rested. Then his hand began to move across the sheets
as though he were keying a computer keyboard while the other one scanned down an
imagined list of items he was reading from. He owned a computer service company so it
was in character for him to be concerned with it. It was no coincidence that he would see
a non-existent person standing at the side of his bed either. I say "non-existent person"
because I couldn't see what he saw!
We had talked many times at length about heaven, and Christ, and God, and salvation,
so many other things related to the hereafter. One topic was a recent one: That his
eldest son had died in a motorcycle accident a year before. Barrett was not a Christian.
Richard had tried to reach his son without positive results ~ or so he thought. However,
as he was going through Barrett's effects, he found a Christian tract in the wallet. He
knew then that Barrett had been saved but had not finalized it by accepting Christ as his
savior publicly and being baptized.
I told Richard that I could not go through the grief of losing his son for him. That this was
one that Mama couldn't fix for him. He would have to go through this one himself, but I
would go through it with him. He just said, "Ma, I'm okay with Barrett's death. I know he is
at home with God and Christ in heaven! I asked God to take care of him and He did! He
took my son home!"
Was it coincidence that my son would see Christ standing in his hospital room? Was he
really seeing our savior as he transitioned from our world into the holy presence of our
Lord God? If I were to judge from the look of pure rapture on his face and in his voice,
and I do, I would have no doubt that Richard was seeing the face of Jesus leading him
into the presence of God the Father as we spoke!
Was it coincidence that I witnessed that moment? That I was present in the room as my
son gazed upon the face of Jesus Christ? Absolutely not! For the past two years and
eight months, I had gone from blaming a family genetic anomaly to blaming God for the
impending death of my only son. I was very angry and helpless as I was forced to stand
by and watch my son dying by degrees of renal cancer, helpless to do anything to help
reverse the ultimate end or ease his pain.
There are no coincidences with God. He orders everything in our lives. Every thing! Life,
mates, children, career, and death. Not only does He order everything for those who die
but for those of us who remain to live out God's plan for the rest of our lives. I needed to
be shown the power of His will. I needed, like Thomas, to see the nail prints in His hands
almost. So what I witnessed in my son that day brought about an epiphany in my life, a
total turnabout and acceptance of Christ dying for me and now living in me! That day
totally changed my belief system about heaven and dying. That was no coincidence! It
was Christ teaching me a lesson that I needed to learn! And I learned it well! It still thrills
me today ten years later!
So my dear grieving friends, as I told my son upon the death of his son, “I cannot go
through (the work of) grieving for you, but I can and will go through it with you with all my
prayers that you may find peace and comfort with your loss. I cannot say that I will never
feel sad or lost or lonely at another death in my family, but I will say that the grief will not
be selfish or self centered as before because I know that my dear absent loved one is at
peace with our Lord in heaven, and I would not want them to wait another day in pain for
that supreme joy. I can hardly wait for my own homecoming to experience what I saw in
my son's face that day. What an incredibly happy day that will be!
It is my prayer for you that you also may see the Lord's face through your prayers and
that you will find the ultimate peace and comfort through our savior, Jesus Christ, who
died for our sins. He promised and He will never fail in that promise. ~ Betty
Life After Loss |