A gentleman named Jerry wrote a beautiful birthday letter, really a love letter of the first order, to his wife, who had recently died at the age of 61. I was honored that he shared it with me and I would like to share it with you.
“You were the first and only person whose death I witnessed,” Jerry wrote to his wife. “At the time it was not scary at all, for I knew deep within my soul that as I held your hand and as you took your last breath, you were immediately in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ… A peace came over me that I cannot explain, except to say that I knew he was with me, too.
“I remember so vividly in the hospital when you said to me, ‘I am ready to be received into the loving arms of my savior. I have met all my goals, have had a good life, a great family and many friends, and now I am ready to go.’
“And then there was the second gift from you and God the morning before you went home to Jesus, when you said, ‘I saw God last night and I got a glimpse of heaven. It is so beautiful there.’ I don’t know what heaven is like but I continually ask the Lord to save you. From now until our happy reunion there, happy birthday and I love you!”
This was very obviously a committed Christian couple who knew their Lord and savior by name; the wife’s gift to her husband, as she was so close to death, was the peace that comes from knowing that heaven is a beautiful place where we are reunited with our loved ones.
