"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants." Psalm 116:5
My sister Rosie died last month after battling stage 4 lung cancer for 11 months. She never smoked and it's hard to understand how she got lung cancer, but as she said throughout her sickness, "It is what it is and God is in control."
The amazing thing about her during her treatment, her hospice care and then sitting by her bed when she died was the fact that her faith in Jesus just seemed to grow stronger each day. She was such an encouragement to everyone and she never lost her zeal for life. God was merciful and she was never in much pain although she was on oxygen for most of those 11 months. She never complained, but seemed to take it all in stride.
Rosie always called me her big sister as I am 3 years older and since I have a hearing loss and live 100 miles away we kept in touch through messaging. As her cancer progressed, I wrote to her almost every day to let her know that I loved her. We would send funny notes to one another and she always shared her faith that Jesus was with her and that God would take care of her. She read her Bible faithfully and believed it when Jesus said. "My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John 14:2
Rosie was the life of the party from the time she born. She was always coming up with fun things to do and sometimes got in trouble for doing them. She married a man who had loved her from their junior high days and he remained devoted to her to the very end. He took her anywhere she wanted to go and helped her with her oxygen, wheelchair and all her physical needs. He loaded up her large oxygen tank each week so that she could attend church. She went to her grandchildren's sports events with regularity, seldom missing their games and other events they were involved in even though she had to take her oxygen tank with her.
Rosie was also a wonderful baker. She loved to make pies and was famous for her chocolate chip cookies. When she arrived at family dinners and reunions there was always a mad dash for her bowl of cookies.
My husband and I visited with her on Monday before she died and learned that she had fallen the day before. Her oxygen level was so low that she could no longer stand up without passing out. Hospice informed her that she was going to have to stay in bed and they delivered a bed to her house the following day.
As I was praying for her the next day God's Spirit within me said that I should go stay with her and help her husband since she was now bedridden. So on Thursday I arrived to see if I could help and she seemed grateful for my being there. Her husband and 2 sons took care of most of her needs and I asked her what I could do for her. The next 2 days we spent picking out the clothes for her funeral, writing a message from her for those who would be attending her funeral and tying up loose ends as she thought of them. Since she had known that her death was imminent she had planned out her funeral down to the smallest detail.
During the time I stayed at her home I was blessed to witness a steady stream of visitors. She was so pleasant with everyone and wanted to take pictures with them and post them on Facebook. She was just so grateful for each person who came and was always so cheerful. She cried with each of us and asked each of us for permission to go "home." She reminded all of us that she was going to be with Jesus soon and trusted Him to be merciful.
The hospice staff did a wonderful job keeping her comfortable and instructing her family just what to expect in the days to come. Being a witness to all of this was a bit overwhelming, but it created some wonderful memories of my little sister. Watching the way that she responded to all the love from family and friends was a blessing for me and each of them.
On Saturday night her two sons, their wives and all of her grandchildren had a pizza party with her. There was a lot of laughter, a few tears and many memories were shared. Before they left that night she had her grandchildren, one at a time, come join her in bed and she spoke to each of them very privately. It was amazing to watch her with them and judging from their reactions, she was speaking words of encouragement to each of them.
On Sunday morning she was in good spirits, ate a little breakfast and then told us that she was going to catch up on her devotions. So her husband and I watched as she read her Bible. When she closed it she told her husband that it was time for her to go. She asked for some morphine, said she was tired of fighting and closed her eyes. She then pulled the oxygen tube from her nose and tossed it on the bed.
We sat with her and held her hand as her breathing became more and more labored. I sang a few familiar songs about Jesus, I read highlighted scripture from her Bible and reminded her that Jesus was waiting with outstretched arms for her. Within an hour she raised her hands as if going to meet Jesus and was gone.
My husband was one of the pastors to speak at her funeral and he had asked her when we visited with her on Monday to make one more batch of cookies. So her children and grandchildren, under her direction, made a huge batch of cookies. As he spoke about her love of baking and especially her famous cookies, her two sons passed around containers full of her last batch of cookies. With tears streaming down our cheeks, we all ate one more cookie from Rosie at her funeral. It was so typical of the way she lived her entire life, it was a celebration of a life lived abundantly to the very end and she will always, always live in our hearts.
Watching her depart from this world was a difficult thing to do, but knowing that she is now with Jesus, that she no longer needs oxygen to breathe and that she has rejoined our parents and other loved ones is such a comfort for all of us.
"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Rosie's hope was in Jesus, our hope is in Jesus, is your hope in Jesus?
