Home for Christmas

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in Me.  In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may also be where I am."
                                                                                    John 14:1-3

I love Christmas carols.  They inspire and exude the spirit of Christmas, and I suppose since we only hear them one month out of the year, they never seem to grow old.  As I was traveling back to my mom's in Fort Walton on December 9th, I sought the music of Christmas on the radio, longing for the holiday spirit.  The familiarity of the tunes, "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," "Silent Night," "Mary Did You Know," offered a soothing balm to my aching heart. Then as Bing Crosby's voice began to croon, "I'll be home for Christmas," overwhelming peace emerged. At that moment the Lord seemed to say, "Yes, she will be HOME for Christmas." Even as the tears flowed, I knew this would be a most gracious gift.

Through these last weeks I have been reminded again that indeed our citizenship is not here. We were created for heaven. Most especially when one we love is suffering and we are assured of his/her eternity, we can pray for the Lord to take our loved one home--home where "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev. 21:4). My mom was prepared; she was at peace, and the Lord was merciful.  Five weeks from diagnosis to Jesus.  We had prayed for discernment about chemotherapy, and He made it clear to all of us that at 78, the side effects would not be worth the potential benefit. We prayed that she would have minimal pain and not suffer. Only the last week did she need any prescription pain medication. Surely we saw the Lord's lovingkindness and faithfulness in every way as He answered prayers. The best gift of Christmas.

This holiday season has been filled with extraordinary gifts though none of these wrapped with ribbon and bows.  One of the first was three weeks of radiation that restored my mom's speech and allowed opportunity for family and friends to visit and some of those relationships to be mended. How thankful we are!  On her last day of radiation a fellow traveler who had already lost all of her hair, asked my mom for her name and address. A few days later a package arrived with several lovely scarves/head wraps--a beautiful gift from a virtual stranger.  We were able to enjoy a family Thanksgiving dinner on the balcony of my brother's condo in Panama City since the Lord graciously gave us a 70 degree sunny day in late November. The two hospice nurses who cared for my mom were exceptional gifts: their tenderness and compassion revealed clearly that He had called them to serve others in their last days. On what was to be my mom's final night on earth, Rachelle, one of these nurses, walked in with a beautiful lighted tabletop Christmas tree and a homemade card.  She said local elementary students had made cards for the hospice patients, and she had picked one up to bring to my mom.  I smiled as I took the card out of the envelope and saw an adorable gingerbread man adorned with fabric cut-outs on the front.  Then I opened it and gasped.  Scrawled in what appeared to be a kindergardener's handwriting: "Warmest Wishes, Kaleb."  I then explained through my tears that my mom had six grandsons--and one of them is named Caleb--and that I believed that this was not coincidence but the Lord saying, "Yes, I am still right here with you.  I promised to never leave you nor forsake you" (Deut. 31:6). Immanuel--God with us. An indescribable gift! In the wee hours of that Saturday morning, sitting at her bedside, I read to her from the book of Revelation descriptions of her imminent eternal home.  Indeed God's Word is one of the greatest gifts of all, offering peace and such assurance in our time of need.  The prayers many of you have offered on behalf of our family have also been a most precious gift this season.

And though we grieve our loss, we rejoice over these lasting gifts of Christmas. Yes, this was a sad time to lose our mom, yet were it not for the birth of Jesus that first Christmas, we would grieve without hope. God gave us His Son by way of a manger and ultimately the cross that we might face death with the hope of eternal life with Him.  Hallelujah! My mom was indeed able to be home for Christmas, celebrating with Jesus and my dad and Jim and many other loved ones.  For her celebration of life here, she had selected some of her favorite hymns to be played-she loved the old traditional ones--and had asked specifically about the recessional: "I want it to be uplifting so that when people are leaving all they will be thinking is, 'She's home!  She's home!'"

Home sweet home indeed.  Surely tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy...