God Is Getting Us Ready to Live with Him:
God is getting his people ready to live happily forever with him (Ephesians 2:10; John 14:3). God is constantly working all things together, conforming each of us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, so that we are prepared to live with him in heaven (Romans 8:28-29).
The Lord showed his hand in getting my wife, my mother-in-law and me ready.
In a previous testimony (Letting Jesus Heal Our Problems), I shared how the Lord had worked patiently with me and my wife Jean to heal our marriage. We were planning to live together again. However, it seemed the Lord had decided my wife was about ready to live with him in heaven.
My wife Jean was diagnosed with a fast acting terminal cancer. Her cancer was not treatable as mine had been. I was stunned. However, when Jean realized the Lord may take her to be with him, she started “getting her house in order.” She wanted to spent our last days together going places we had enjoyed together. On an occasion when we went to one of our favorite restaurants, she wanted her mother to come with us. I could see the love side of my wife’s “love-hate” feelings reaching out to her mother. The Lord impressed upon me to assist her in trying to heal her relationship with her mother. I wanted to see my wife completely healed of any residual feelings of resentment toward her mother,like the Lord had healed her feeling toward me. Our sharing this time together seemed to have a therapeutic effect. Jean told me–while her mother was distracted– “I know you did this [get-together with her and her mother] for me.”
The Lord let me see the struggle my wife was having in forgiving her mother for the pain her mother had caused her over the years. When I was alone with my wife Jean, I often prayed with her and encouraged her to forgive her mother for any hurt her mother had caused. My wife would sometimes say, despite the pains her mother caused her, she was thankful to her mother for teaching her about God. I knew the Lord was getting Jean ready to be with Him
God let me spend time with my wife being her primary caregiver. I took leave from my job to care for her, while she was staying at her mother’s house. And I planned to retire when my leave expired to continue caring for her. But before I was to retire my wife was taken to the hospital for expert palliative care. However, before she went to the hospital, she looked at me lovingly and said: “I have always loved you.” She knew the Lord was about ready to take her to be with him.
He permitted us to say our last farewells. At the hospital, I encouraged my wife to tell her mother she loved her. She told her mother, “I love you.” I urged Jean to go with Jesus. Jean said, “Lord take care of Steve.” I had stayed a few days in the hospital by her bed, but went home for a night of rest. I returned to the hospital the next morning. The Lord had taken my wife Jean to live with Him.
The Lord gave me opportunity to spend meaningful time with my mother-in-law, who was ailing. I assisted her with things she needed help with. I spend time with her to allay some of her loneliness. After she entered a nursing home, I regularly visited her. And when she was hospitalized, I went to see her and encouraged her with scriptures and songs she liked. The Lord took her at a time when I was not there.
God Continues to Get Me and You Ready to Live with Him.
After being saved and having fallen into sin, I have been forgiven by God. He helped me heal my broken relationship with my wife. He has inspired me to witness for him and to help others. He is continuing to conform me into the image of his Son Jesus Christ, in getting me ready to live with him.
if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God is conforming you to be like the Lord, in getting you ready to live with him.
For anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ into your life, the first step in getting ready for heaven is to ask him to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior (John 3:16).
