Waiting
By Dr. Dani Brink, Assemblies of God World Missionary serving with Global Initiative
Waiting
By Dr. Dani Brink, Assemblies of God World Missionary serving with Global Initiative
A few thoughts which occurred to me this morning in that space between sleep and consciousness as we wait for my beautiful aunt in Connecticut to take her final breath:
"Waiting"
Waiting for that final earthly breath to turn into a long sigh.
Waiting for her BP to become zero, her pulse to become zero, her respirations to become zero.
Waiting for her earthly bodily shell to grant ultimate freedom to her soul.
Waiting for a pronouncement that I’ve had to make for others many a time in my 30-year career span as an RN.
Waiting for yet another memory to come flooding back of time spent with her in the past and giving thanks for it.
Waiting for this blessed death, knowing that the moment it happens your life as you knew it is over, because it defines who you are in new and unfamiliar ways.
Death is scary, and painful and confusing and we do a terrible job of preparing for it both emotionally and intellectually in our busy, microwave-convenient, time-locked lives.
Until you are in the waiting.
And then for the Believer in Christ:
Waiting for faith to turn into sight.
Waiting to inherit the kingdom of God.
Waiting to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant…”
Waiting for colors and sounds so vibrant they cannot be described by mere words.
Waiting for a reunion with loved ones gone before whom (I believe) are just within those pearly gates as the welcoming committee.
Waiting for the perishable to put on the imperishable and for the mortal to put on immortality.
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:55-57)