A Welcomed Vision
Posted Monday, May 14, 2012 by Marilyn Meberg

 

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: . . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh.  —Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4

Eleven or twelve hours after my mother’s death, I was in the shower, which often serves as my sanctuary, thinking about my mom. Trying to internalize the enormity of what had happened that day, I pondered her arrival in heaven.  What was it like?

As I tried to visualize her in her new surroundings, I became lost to my own.  Gradually, I saw her in the arms of Jesus. He was holding her as one would a child, cradling her against his body. Her face was radiant, and as Jesus held her, he began to gently swing her back and forth in his arms, back and forth.

In the vision, Mom laughed and laughed, until her head was thrown back in total   abandonment. At first I was a bit startled. Mom hadn’t laughed in two years—hadn’t even smiled in six months. But as joy and relief flooded over me I thought, Well, of course. She can laugh now. God has wiped away all her tears, and now it is my mother’s time to laugh again.

I don’t believe I’d ever had a vision before. I’m not even sure what I think about people who claim to have them! But that evening, the image of my mother’s carefree laughing not only comforted me but also inspired a concept I love: In life we encounter pain, heartache, and sorrow. But as believers in Christ, who conquered death, we have the last laugh!

Excerpted from Daily Gifts of Grace. Copyright ©2012 by Thomas Nelson. Published by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.