She looked so beautiful today. Her hair was long, her face was glowing. She looked like she did on her wedding day some 23 years ago. She was celebrating her 43rd birthday dancing around and around like a little girl expressing her innocent happiness. She gives me a great big bear hug. “I love you,” she says. “I love you too. So what’s it like? You look so happy.” “Oh, it’s wonderful here,” she replies. “You know I have a microwave and I can eat anything I want. You never have to go to the bathroom. It’s heaven!”

I woke up. “It’s heaven,” she said. I believe her, and I find myself inspired. Heaven must be wonderful. Perhaps the bathroom thing is a symbol. You don’t have to deal with anything that you disliked on earth, and you get to do the things you love—like eat great food and dance.

After my dream, I felt like I knew the answer. My sister let me know that life after death is real. She was experiencing eternal life in God’s heaven. The fact that she looked so beautiful made me believe that maybe, once you’re gone, you go back to a time in your life when you were happiest. The smile never left her face. There is no pain, no fear, no sadness and no problems in heaven. Eternal life is a blessing. It states so in several places in the Bible and I believe.

Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:15 NKJV

On August 20, 1996, the Lord decided it was her time to find eternal life. She was suffering the effects of terminal breast cancer. She was only 34-years-old when diagnosed, and she had so much to live for. Her life came to an end at age 42. Blessed with a wonderful husband and two beautiful children, a daughter and a son, she had long ago lost sight of the Lord. But her faith was renewed, and she was born again shortly before her death. Here is her story.

Little did she know that her life would be shortened by such a devastating disease at so young an age. When diagnosed she accepted her plight. Because she was so young her doctor recommended aggressive treatment. She immediately started chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer had spread to her lymph nodes in her armpits and she was given a less than 50 percent chance of survival over five years. She had third phase cancer. There was very little hope. She was a fighter, though, and would not give into her illness. After losing her hair and suffering the painful and debilitating aftereffects of chemo, she started reading self-help books on beating the odds and faith-finding books to help her understand. She was raised a Catholic and although she never really stopped believing in God, she put religion and her beliefs away after she met and married her husband who was also raised Catholic but now doubted his faith. To avoid conflicts, she put her beliefs to the side and went on with life. How many of us have strayed from our beliefs and the church? Life sometimes has a way of bringing us back around though, be it through hardships or even through his wonderful gifts, like new life and happiness. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe God punishes those who stray, but I believe he challenges us throughout life so we won’t forget his promise of eternal life.

One year after her diagnosis, she was in remission. She and her husband decided she would quit her job, which earned her over $60,000 a year, and stay at home with the kids. She would enjoy life to the fullest while she still could, and this is exactly what she did. She started to believe that she would survive, and it helped her to enjoy life again, and maybe appreciate the little things a lot more. Her children were 3- and 5-years-old and she had so much to do. Family quality time was the priority, and so the family traveled together and experienced many of life’s pleasures in the years following. She became a Brownies scout leader and stayed with the organization becoming a Girl Scout’s troop leader as her daughter became old enough. She had many friends who were wonderful helping her during her illness that first year and later. To give you an idea of what type of beautiful, giving and loving person she was, if you believe the saying that the good die young, she was one of God’s chosen angels, although she didn’t know it at the time.

The next six years almost seemed normal. Her children were growing up and she was going through what most young mothers experience with children. The emotional ups and downs of raising children were all present in her life. She struggled with their changing attitudes and emotions, trying to protect them from life’s struggles. She worried for her children like all mothers do. She worried that they would grow up misunderstanding the world. She also felt helpless, like so many of us mothers feel. But, life goes on.

After 7 years of experiencing life’s rewards and God’s gifts of love, passion and family, the cancer again took control over her body. It had now spread to most parts of her body and treatment began again. This time she couldn’t handle the treatments as well and she made a turn for the worst. She made it her mission to make sure she visited her immediate family as much as possible, and her mom who lived over 1,500 miles away came to live with her and help through what was to be the hardest and most trying time of her life. She was still fighting her sickness to the end. Shortly before her death, the doctor recommended she attend a retreat for the terminally ill. She flew to Denver, CO in her weakened state because she felt she needed some time alone to reflect and evaluate her life. Here is where she was truly born-again. Over the past seven years she was reading the bible and books searching for the right answers and for the strength and guidance to understand her destiny. She finally realized and started to believe that she would be saved. God had this planned from the day she was born. She had to live and experience her fate as planned. She knew now that God still had a plan for her, in his eternal heaven. He promised her eternal life and she believed. She was finally able to relax and accept what was to be. She was able to thank God for her blessings, which included her mother, her husband, children, sisters and brother and a large extended family past that, plus the many friends and acquaintances she made in her life. Everything she ever did, even if it involved normal life’s struggles, she did with conviction and determination and success. Everyone’s life she touched was blessed by her love and support. Although she knew her life would end someday soon, she was able to make every minute mean something. She lived right to the end. She found strength in her faith to make it seem like she wasn’t going to die, but to live in eternal happiness. Yes, perhaps she did have fear of death itself, but she didn’t express that feeling in her actions and words. She was a real inspiration to us all.

Although we are left behind to suffer her loss, we need to realize that God’s plan for us includes our acceptance of this loss and the faith to believe that someday, predestined by God, we will join her in his eternal heaven.

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