Final Words

Our final words can be so important. I have shared my Daddy's final words often and so since tomorrow August 2nd would have been his 86th birthday I thought it would be fitting to share them with you, so they can offer hope and encouragement: 

My once healthy father lay sick in a hospital bed when just a few weeks before he had been the picture of health… until he suffered from a collapsed lung. Daddy had acquired the unthinkable while in the hospital to have the lung repaired—a staph infection. When I traveled from Texas to Mississippi to visit him, the diagnosis had not been made, but we did know that he was something was terribly wrong. My beloved father was a man of integrity, loved by all who knew him, and every night I would see him kneeling beside his bed in prayer, but he never talked about his faith. It always bothered me that he would ask if I had been to the dentist or if I had been to have my eyes checked, but he never asked me about my relationship with the Lord. Not knowing if my dad would live another 20 years or would be gone in an instant, I prayed that God would give me a sign to know Daddy’s eternal destination.

I don’t remember much about the visit to the hospital, but there is one thing I will never forget. One of the pastors from my parent’s church came to visit, while my sister, my mother and I were all present. The kind old pastor asked my father if he could pray for him and he replied yes.  I don’t know what was spoken in the prayer that day, but the words out of my father’s mouth when it was over were God’s answer to my prayer. He said, “Pastor, all I can do is trust in Jesus.” Wow! There was no doubt where Daddy’s would spend eternity; he would be with Jesus forever. Those were the last words that I ever heard my daddy speak and I still get tears in my eyes thinking about the three women in his life being present to hear them. 

Several weeks later on a Sunday morning we were called to the hospital, knowing this would be “the morning.” Daddy had not stirred for days, no eyes opened, no words from his mouth, and no gestures of love. But as all of his family members surrounded his bed, we could tell that he just didn’t want to go; he loved life and family and wanted to be around for graduations and weddings and births, but we knew it would not be. Because I had heard the expression of his faith weeks earlier, I was able to say, “Daddy, go to Jesus. He is waiting for you and wants you to come to Him.” At that moment, my father’s beautiful clear blue eyes opened and rested on each person in the room and then he closed them and smiled.

Daddy was gone from this earth, but we could celebrate because we knew why he was smiling--heaven and earth had touched.

 Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

 
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