[Faithwalker012]

She was born in a small Ohio village, lived out her days in a small city of about 20 some thousand people, and died last Wednesday morning.

She had a beautiful heart. One of her church members said he always said she was 99% heart. Of course, oftentimes in the weakness of the flesh, even those who are "99% heart" have that heart give out on them, and they take their last breath, and pass on to the Father, for better or worse, for Him to do with their soul as He sees fit, to ultimately be rewarded or punished come Judgment Day. For until Judgment Day, regardless of good or bad, to be absent from the flesh body is to be present with the Lord. (2nd Cor 5:8)

My grandma is present with the Lord, and she will be for eternity. I believe that in all confidence. Yesterday was her funeral service. Her pastor stood before us, and he told us a story. The story was a dream my grandmother had, and she related that dream to him. It was a dream my mother did not know about, even as she was at the hospital with her every day, and at the nursing home with her both days she spent there until her death the morning of that third day.

My grandma had a dream that she was walking in a room. In this room were people from her church. Whether these people were living or whether they had actually passed on, I don't know. I believe they were people who had passed on. But she was in this room, saw these people, and said, "I must be home."

The pastor said that when she told him of this dream, he told people that she would not be getting better, that it was her time. He then took off his glasses, rubbed at his eyes, and said, "If I have tears, I loved her as much as many of you did."

I don't know if her dream was God's way of comforting her, of speaking to her through her illness, though I expect it was. What I do know is she went home, home to a perfect place, in an incorruptible body, to be with the Lord she loved forever.

I thank our Father for calling His child, my grandma home. For while she will be missed, especially by my mom, who sobbed through every song played, by my uncle, who came close to doing the same, by her sister, who cried at her casket when she arrived at the church, by that church member who said she was 99% heart and was sobbing on my uncle's shoulder, by many others, including myself.... though she will be missed, in the end she has won. She has won a victory many hope for,a victory many before her already achieved, a victory that still many others can not fathom and aren't sure if it's even possible. She has won the victory of eternal life, a victory achieved not on the basis of what she did, though her actions, her works, certainly played a part. It was a victory not because she was an important person. She had a humble life, no worldly riches, quite the opposite really. It was a victory won because she believed in a merciful God, Father, and Creator, and believed in the sacrifice made by a Saviour, rejected by many, but glorified and anointed by God. She believed, and accepted a gift given by a perfect Messiah, a loving God, freely given to what by most standards is an undeserving world, part of "whomsoever will" of John 3:16.

In the midst of the strongest storms, of the cloudiest day, of the pain and grief of the loss of loved ones, still shines a brilliant ray of light, of victory.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

It doesn't exist for her. Death could not sting her spirit, her soul, and the grave could claim nothing more than her flesh. A pile of dirt will go back to a pile of dirt, but her soul, and her glorified spiritual body will live through an eternity.

Jason