I cracked the door open ever so slightly and quietly peeked in to see if she was sleeping. Bright-eyed and awake, she saw my head peek through the door and her face lighted up with the smile I have known all my life. "Hi, Mom, you're awake!" I greeted her.
"Yes, come on in," she replied, in her ususual cheery voice. I sat next to the recliner where she spends all her waking hours now and we began to chat. I had dropped Dad off for a medical appointment and came back to sit with my 89-year-old mom, suffering with Alzheimers. As I often did, I picked up her bible and asked if I could read to her. Because she also has macular degeneration, she can no longer read anything, and is unable to process most TV programs or movies. But when I read God's Word to her, her eyes fill with light and she really comes alive. I opened the bible to Revelation 4 and began reading to her the description of heaven. She listened with rapt attention and when I finished I said, "doesn't it sound glorious?"
"Oh yes," she exclaimed, "it is glorious." Then she added a bit sadly, "but it's far away."
"No, it's soon," I told her. "The Lord is coming soon for His people and you will have a healed body and a clear mind and memory."
Then I began to talk about some memories of my children (her grandchildren) when they were little, as I always hope this will bring her some joyful moments; but I was not really ready for what she said. She looked right at me and said, "Well, I remember a lot more about Kelly's family. I don't know much about your family." I took her hand and got much closer to her face and then asked her, "who do you think I am?" To my dismay, she began to cry and responded, "I don't know. You look like someone I should know, but I don't know who you are."
I guess I knew this would come, but who is ever ready for it? It seemed to distress her greatly also, because she could not remember, and so I very quickly changed the subject by opening up the pages of the Word again, and reading some more to her: "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more. Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them." (Isaiah 65:17-23)
By the time I finished reading, her tears had subsided, she forgot that she had a memory problem and she looked at me once again in wonder at God's words. "You came to encourage me, didn't you? This has given me hope."
I had started the day early, reading in Isaiah chapters 65 and 66 and my heart had stopped at chapter 66 verse 9: "I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations - to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD..."
Suddenly my whole end-times understanding had been rocked with the thought that my opportunity to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Messiah would not even be over after the Tribulation! "I will send some of those who survive..." Survive what? That has to mean "those days," the days of tribulation. There will be more opportunities to bring people to the Lord! My heart and mind had reeled all day with that glorious thought, since I know I was put on this earth to bring people!
And now, alone with my little white-headed mother, the Lord had encouraged her also in the words of Isaiah the prophet, with the thrilling pictures of life in the kingdom! I wiped away the few tears I had allowed to escape when Mom didn't know who I was - and envisioned us in this incredible place where weeping and crying are heard no more, and an 89-year-old person will be thought a "mere youth!"
Thank You, Lord. You gave us both hope today.
