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Waiting for the other shoe to drop

11/12/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
Sadly, some elderly people spend their last days waiting for what they think is the worst. They’ve lost their parents, spouses, siblings, and friends, and now they are just waiting for their own deaths – too often with dread.

The good news is we can occasionally help.

For instance, the problem is sometimes (and increasingly) plain old unbelief.

“I don’t buy any of that heaven stuff anymore,” one aged lady told me, with great sadness, some years ago. “When we die, we cease to exist and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

She is a reader, so I gave her a copy of Heaven Without Her and she promised to read it. It’s my prayer, of course, that she will be pointed towards the narrow gate (Matthew 7) by the evidence it presents for the truth of Christianity -- or at least come to see that eternity is worthy of both consideration and investigation. I may never know, however; we only met in passing.

Sometimes end-of-life fears are the result of unbiblical theology.

Many years ago, I found a 100-year-old woman sobbing in her room. “I’m afraid of dying,” she confessed through her tears. “I’m so afraid of Purgatory!” I gently showed her from scripture that if she repented and trusted in Christ, she could count on being “absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5). Did these truths relieve her fears? It seemed so at the time; but she suffered a massive stroke and died soon after our discussion, so I won’t know until I get There myself.

Occasionally even the faith-filled elderly fear death -- not its reality but its mechanics, in particular the prospect of pain.

Fortunately, we really don’t have to deal with overwhelming pain anymore, thanks to modern pharmaceuticals. In two decades as a nursing-home volunteer, I saw only three residents suffer greatly, and in two of those cases it was because they refused medication to relieve it.

But even when that relief is incomplete, it’s possible for the dying to rest in the knowledge that God is at work in and through them, and that eternal bliss is just beyond the horizon. 

I’ve seen this attitude time and time again in Spirit-filled Christians. What a blessing and encouragement it is to spend time with those who are waiting patiently not for the other shoe to drop, but for joy forevermore!
2 Comments
ofelia R claudio
1/23/2022 08:02:06 pm

To be honest, Kitty, I too dread the PROCESS of dying. I don't fear death because I know Who waits for me - Jesus. (Thank God, I was set free from the Roman Catholic faith. We believed in purgatory. We had no assurance of heaven because we believed we made it to heaven by not not sinning. Who doesn't sin???? Now I have this Blessed Assurance - Jesus is mine forevermore!). It's but a blip on the screen. I need to grow/mature in this area. Yes, thank God for meds. I just don't want to linger too long and be a burden to the family. That was my mom's desire and prayer. She lingered, however, afflicted with Alzheimer's. But she was blessed to be in the care of my sister and her loving children. Thank you, Kitty, for your blog!

Reply
Kitty Foth-Regner link
1/24/2022 06:55:00 am

I'm with you, Ofelia! There may be some rough times ahead for many of us, if the Lord tarries. But oh, speaking of Blessed Assurance, "visions of rapture now burst on my sight! Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love."

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including
    Heaven Without Her.

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