When a Loved One Dies

There have to be many many people who have experienced something unusual at the time a loved one dies.  But how often do we hear about it?   Almost never.  Because “people will think we’re imagining things”.  But I’m going to tell you about a couple of times when the curtain between my world and the afterlife became pretty thin and then a friend is going to tell you about an astounding experiences just before her mother died.

Listening to the Still Small Voice

My grandmother was a saint on earth, so I’m sure she is doing great things in Heaven.  On the day she died I had visited her at the nursing home for the last time.  We told each other how we loved each other and said our good-byes.  She died a few hours later.  Because we were traveling, that night my husband and I were in a hotel room where I was talking to God about “granny’s” passage when I felt a presence so strong I turned to see who was there.  But there was no one visible.  If you’ve ever felt like there was somebody behind you without seeing them,..it was like that.  I knew this was granny whispering through the life/afterlife curtain something like “I’m still around, I’m doing good, I love you and I just wanted to let you know”.  She was always so considerate.

My dear mother’s health had been declining for over a year.  During that time she had had at least 3 of her 4 noticeable mini strokes, as well as surgery for colon cancer.  She tried to remain cheerful and I tried to do whatever was needed to make her happy, but it was hard to keep up with her changing needs and whims.  A few days before she left this earth, she told me ‘I heard my mother’s voice’.  Of course, I wanted to know what words her mother spoke, but she couldn’t tell me.   A day and a half after her earthly death, I received a beautiful bouquet from colleagues.   You know how when you are grieving and somebody does something nice, you just breakdown?  Well that’s what happened.  I was deeply grieving when I felt a ripple of happiness.  I thought it was rather odd, but didn’t realize until the next day that it was mom telling me, through the curtain, that she was now happy.  Such a comfort.

A Spiritual Experience That Can’t Be Missed

These are examples of the little messages that God sends us, that we could easily miss if we aren’t  listening, but sometimes we have spiritual experiences that can’t be missed.  This was true for my friend Lynda.  At the end of her life, Lynda’s mother was bed-ridden in Lynda’s living room.  Days before her passing, the Hospice pastor visited Lynda’s mother.  As he was standing next to her bed, with wonderment, he said to her ‘I can feel God in this room….Do you feel it?’  Her response was ‘Yes, He came in with you’.  Lynda looked out the open door and saw what looked like the sun so bright that it filled the universe.  The pastor, who had been with many people during their last days on earth, was speechless with awe and so was my friend.

I’m going to let Lynda tell you the rest of her spiritual experience:

The experience that I would like to share is one that will always stay close to my heart.  We have those right?  Those experiences that you absolutely know as truth because you were there, perhaps not as a participant but as an observer.

I never met any of my mother’s family members.  There were not many of them and they passed away before I was born.  They lived in my mind through stories my mom told me as I grew up.  I know them as strong, kind, spiritual and fiercely protective.

My mom was nearing the end of her life.  She was under the care of my brother, myself, my sister-in-law and hospice caregivers.  Her bed was in the living room and I slept on the couch in the same room next to her, in case she needed me during the night.  Most nights were quiet and we slept well.

However, during her last night, I was awakened, hearing much rustling and hushed conversation.  All around my mother’s bed were shadowy, graceful figures fussing and smoothing the bedding, making my mother comfortable, murmuring to each other, and working together as though they knew exactly what their purpose was to be there.  I simply watched and took in the awesome event taking place with my mom.  Somehow I knew their purpose and felt strangely calm.  They were those loving spiritual family members coming to check on my mom and get her ready for her journey home.

The next morning my sweet mother joined her mother, father, grandmother and aunt.  They had prepared her well, welcoming her to her heavenly home.

Remember John 14:2:  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

What  a wonderful experience…to witness part of the journey we will all eventually take…a  rather large opening in the curtain between life and afterlife.

The Torn Temple Curtain – at the Time of Another Transition

At the time of Christ’s death the temple curtain was torn.  Matthew 27:51

It is not a slight rent through which we may see a little; but it is rent from the top to the bottom. There is an entrance made for the greatest sinners. If there had only been a small hole cut through it, the lesser offenders might have crept through; but what an act of abounding mercy is this, that the veil is rent in the midst, and rent from top to bottom, so that the chief of sinners may find ample passage!” (Spurgeon)  

The tearing of the temple veil signified at least two things. First, now man has free access to the throne of grace by the cross. Second, no one should ever think again that God dwells in temples made with hands.  (David Guzik)

Please contact me if you have a spiritual experience that you would like to share.  I’d love to hear it.