Back From Death

I am counted among those going down to the Pit. 

I am like a man without strength, 

abandoned among the dead. 

I am like the slain lying in the grave, 

whom you no longer remember, 

and who are cut off from your care. Psalm 88:4-5 

  

  By the winter of 2011 I had all but given myself up for dead. I could see no way forward. I was out of ideas, and the heavens seemed made of iron as far as my prayers were concerned. Anemic, wasting away, enduring fevers, exhausted beyond belief. I grew worse and worse and thought I was at the end of my life. 

  Crohn’s Disease nearly destroyed my life. There was serious concern whether I could survive the major surgery that was my only hope for a recovery and life. Months after my surgery, as I began to recover, hope grew inside of me that perhaps I would live. God gave me a new lease on life after being so close to death. 

  Your thinking becomes very clear after being on the downward spiral toward death. Nothing ever quite seems the same after such an experience. You have seen firsthand just how fragile life can be, and how mortal we all are when it comes to death. 

  What a relief it is for the dying to know there is more than this insubstantial life. Our Lord Jesus lived and died and lives forevermore, and every believer will reign with Him in heaven! That is not just a nice sounding platitude, that is a fact you can base your life upon, and bet your death on. 

  My experience of nearly dying and being restored to life must be similar to what we will feel when our life on this earth ends. Seeing our immanent end before us, then finding ourselves alive again. Death ushers us into the eternal life given to us by our Lord on the other side of death. 

  Frequently after my near-death-experience I had to pinch myself to make sure I was still alive. I was surprised to wake up after my surgery in a recovery room and see the faces of friends and family all around me. How happy we will be to wake up in that eternal recovery room and see the face of Jesus and those who have gone before us smiling at our joyful arrival. One day we will truly be back from death and into a glorious resurrection and reunion! 

  Prayer: Dear Lord, we rejoice in the hope of heaven and spending an eternity in Your presence. Thank You not only for the hope, but the fact of an eternal life with You where there is no more death. Amen.