Sunday, October 15th, 2006
I must set down before you an extraordinary event that took place in the past 24 hours. Paul and I have been just agonizing over the amount of suffering we have seen our daughter endure. Those of you relieving us for a night know that it is bitterly painful to watch as Katy cries out in pain. I didn’t think I could take anymore so Paul and I left the hospital for an hour last night and Colin and Jenn took our place. Within 45 minutes we received a phone call that we were needed at the hospital and should return. Katy was having breathing problems and body spasms. All the way back to the hospital I cried out to the Lord relinquishing her and begging for mercy from the pain. Paul and I cried and prayed that God the Father would carry her home if that was His plan.
When we got to the hospital, Jenn and Colin were trying to calmly care for Katy in the darkened room. When we walked into the room, Katy had her eyes closed and she was enthralled by the light and the warmth that she said was in the room. She kept saying, “can you see it?” Then suddenly she said, “It’s Jesus. Oh! He is walking beside me. Oh, the streets! Oh, Mommy the streets are so beautiful! It’s like glass over the top of jewels of every color!” For the next four hours Katy told us all the things she saw with Jesus. She took us on a guided tour. We called Paul Burton and he quickly drove to the hospital to join us. We all surrounded Katy’s bed while she told us of the heavenly places and the Love of Jesus for each one of us. She held up her arms and stroked the air saying, “Oh Jesus I love you. You are so loving and kind.” She said she was stroking His garments. Four hours! No pain, no crying out, only an intimate walk with her Savior. Together we wept, we prayed, and we adored the One we worship.
While we were in this quiet state of worship, Katy saw many things. She would laugh out loud and say, “Jesus has a sense of humor!” She was able to describe in detail the throne and the carvings on it. She said, “I can see perfectly! Everything is so pretty.” She saw children playing. Several times she would gasp and exclaim that she could see children she knew, children who were strong and whole after terrible illness or accident, and say their names. It was completely astonishing as she would tell us the names of people she was seeing. She would say a name and talk to them, then tell us what was said. Colin and I wrote down as many details as she was recounting. She fell asleep at 1:30 AM and awoke the next morning still in the presence of the Lord. She was taken to surgery and when I said goodbye to her, she said, “Mommy, Jesus is holding me in His arms.” Then she told me she wanted to go with Him. I told her to ask Him if it was time, and if it was, we would be fine.
After the surgery, she told Paul and me that Jesus held her through the whole surgery and let her watch as the surgeon worked on her body. She told us that she could hear the conversation in the room and watched herself being operated on. Then Jesus told her that she would not be going with Him. He told her He had more for her to do, and gave her some specific instructions about using her time wisely. I thought the Lord would show the doctors a magic pill that would relieve her pain wracked body, or she would be instantly healed. But Jesus had other plans for Katy. He lavished His love on Katy, gave her a glimpse of eternity, and promised that He would continue to teach her new things about Himself.
I don’t know why we should be chosen to be shown the Glory of the Heavenly Places, but we were. It was a remarkable peace that we all experienced in the presence of Jesus, though Katy was the only one to see Him. When I read the comments from the Poes and Trisha Ferris, I just had to write the events of the past 24 hours. (Their comments are on the “Surgery Update”). Katy told me that there were people in heaven telling her that they could see our family and what we were going through. They were encouraging us to keep fighting the good fight. Hebrews 12:1,2 “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
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