He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
On July 7, 1997, my husband had a severe heart attack, and the doctors gave him 30 minutes to live. He prayed to God to give him 15 more years, and he lived until July 7, 2012.
A few years that followed the heart attack he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. He was operated on, and the doctors removed all the cancer. Then in 2007 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and suffered much pain from chemotherapy and radiation, yet he never complained; instead he talked about his love for God.
Then in 2011 he was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder, and it had to be removed in June of 2012. My husband had to have someone with him 24 hours a day, so my son, daughter-in-law, and I took turns caring for him. On July 7, 2012, at 3:00 a.m., the Lord spoke to me to take my son’s shift, so I was able to be with Herbert when he died that morning at 4:20 a.m.
Before he died, he had asked the hospice nurse not to cover his face when they took him out of the house because he was merely asleep in the Lord, not dead. So, I thanked God for all the love Herbert gave me and for all the love he gave my son. Then I sang a song of praise to God and told Herbert that the glory of God was so bright that it lit up all of heaven. He looked forward to heaven and smiled and did indeed go to sleep in the Lord.
He never went to bed angry, and we both said we loved each other when we woke and before we went to bed. We committed to go on a date every Friday.
Before Herbert’s death, he was totally blind in one eye and only had enough vision in the other to follow a shadow to get around the house by keeping the lights on. I could tell that he had complete vision in the sight of the Lord.
Prayer:
You are the perfect healer and give sight to the blind. You are my comforter and hope. I am not afraid to die because I know when I get to heaven, I will be in the presence of my Lord. Amen.
