Are we ever prepared to hear that our health is not good or that a family member has an illness for which there is no cure? I really don’t think so.
But when you have lived a long and fruitful life, at a certain point you begin to have loved ones and friends who receive terminal diagnoses and face the prospect of dying. Here are a few of those experiences for me.
My dad, who loved his God deeply, died at 68 totally unafraid, having only one concern: my mother. He told my sister Peggy to shave him good one morning, because his best friend—who had died a year earlier—told him, “It’s time to go.” He died that day. God was speaking to him.
My best friend, Diane, was diagnosed at 42 with widespread cancer and went to visit a healing priest. She had the experience of being “slain in the Spirit,” which was new to her. She told me two weeks later that God had chosen to heal her soul but not her body, and she accepted that. She died peacefully just a few weeks later. God had enlightened her.
Mina became a quadriplegic at 16 after being hit by a drunk driver. She persevered, eventually receiving her master’s degree, becoming a counselor and spending her life in service to others. She loved her Lord and relied on Him for everything. I visited her, on a ventilator, the day before she died. She told me she would soon be dancing in heaven. She died during the night. God was with her every day of her life and she knew Him well.
Sharon was a dedicated hospice nurse with whom I worked for many years. A diagnosis of cancer hit her hard, and she struggled for four years to be the very best she could be. She was loved and revered by those closest to her and by all the nurses she trained. I visited her late one afternoon and was thrilled to hear her say, in the middle of a bear hug, “Oh, thank you for coming; I am ready.” Sharon had spent many hours walking on the beach with her God. She was comfortable talking with Him in the place that was most natural to her. She died peacefully the next day.
Kelly was a beautiful young photographer when we first met. I asked if she would consider coming to our hospice and photographing the little children in our program who were dying. She came each and every time I called her and presented every family with beautiful keepsakes of their children. Thirty years later, Guideposts called to say a photographer would be coming to my house—guess who showed up! Kelly thought it was the hand of God who had put us together years before to do His work and who now, at the end of her life, put us together again. I believe it was His way of reminding her about how well she had cared for His children all those years. She died soon after, resting in the knowledge that she had served well.
Barbara was a bright, bubbly and loving woman who died one year after her diagnosis of ALS. As much as she loved life, her faithful and caring husband and her two daughters, she accepted her illness in a way I had never seen before. She declined very quickly and reflected a peace that simply was not of this world. While having coffee one morning, she wrote on her iPad, “I am dying now, Trudy.” I asked her what she wanted most and she said peace and freedom. Barbara knew God was with her and she relied on Him totally. She died one week to the day later, with her loving husband and daughters all around her.
My agent, Carol Susan Ross, was one of the sweetest gifts God ever gave to me. She represented me through the publication of my first two books and we became fast friends. You could not easily find two people who were less alike in our beliefs, but she understood the stories and all they meant from the start. Carol was diagnosed with a terminal illness but continued to live and love life, the way she always had, and now with a wonderfully loving husband by her side. A week before I planned to visit with her, I was speaking to her on the phone when she said, “Trudy, I was destined to represent you with both your books. I have come to a new and deeper understanding of God in the process.” She died peacefully, with friends and family, a few days later. I look forward to meeting her in heaven.
