Late in the afternoon on August 1st I sat beside my grandma and opened up the Bible.  I asked her earlier in the week if she wanted me to read to her and she said "no", but this day was different, she was more aware and she welcomed the offer.
I turned to Isaiah.  The best thing about Isaiah is the second half of the book is super encouraging.  If you need a pick me up, its an easy "go to".  Do not start at the beginning of Isaiah, that is not encouraging at all.  In fact it is down right scary and that isn't exactly something to read when you are feeling uneasy.
So there we were in Isaiah.  I don't know where I began but eventually I found myself in Isaiah 61.  The last few verses of the passage talk about a bridegroom and a bride.  Every time I read this verse I remember a small part of a song that has stuck with me since I was young.
I went to church with my grandparents when we visited them on weekends.  At some point there was a pastor at the church that wrote a song taken from these verses in Isaiah.  After I read the scripture I told my grandma about my memories of the song and I how I can still hear and picture the pastor and his wife singing the song.  She smiled, she remembered, and she talked to me about the pastor, the song, and the verses in Isaiah.
It was August 1st.
I'll remember that day forever.
It is the day my grandma ate a few tablespoons of cottage cheese with peaches.  And it was the day we talked about things of the past, plans in the future, and what was going on with her health.
She told me "this is the hard part of getting old".  She held my hand, she comforted me, she looked deeply into my eyes and read my fear and sadness.
August 1st was the first day she could really have a conversation with me since last April, and also the last.  It was my bonus day before she slipped away.
Currently on my christian radio station there is a song by Christian Stanfill called "Even So Come" and there is a line in the song "like a bridegroom waiting for her groom"....  And every single time I hear that part of that song I remember August 1st.
And my heart breaks as I remember the conversation, and the days that followed, and her last breath.
It breaks, as I remember that day, and those fleeting moments with my grandma.
Then it is restored because the scripture we were talking about is written with anticipation of the greatness that will be reality when the Lord comes and those are the days Grandma loved to read about and waited patiently for.
My heart is restored because that greatness is also fulfilled when we enter into heaven.  "To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of morning and garments of praise instead of a spirit of despair".  Just 13 days later she entered into heaven.  No longer a bride waiting but she was there, in that place where all pain and sorrow are washed away.  Her struggle was no longer and she could finally truly rest in the peace of God her savior.




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