Fear of Impending Death Reversed

Thanks be to God for His wonderful works. Over the past two weeks, I have actively supported a neighbor of mine and dear friend for over 35 years, who had surgery for an obstruction and is in the hospital. On a recent night, she texted me, that she felt she was dying and told me I was the best friend she had ever had; that she loved me and would miss me. Her text took me by surprise. I couldn’t believe it. I knew something had to be done quickly. My inclination was to call my practitioner for support. Then the thought came, “No, you handle it this time.” I knew God was beside me, so I grabbed my Bible and my special Journal, where I keep inspirational insights, prayers and quotes, feeling free to share from sources we both have in common. The thought of how to approach the issue of dying came with the words of a Plainfield practitioner, who I had heard on many occasions, during the Roundtable discussions say, “The hell you say!” So when I made the call and my neighbor picked up, I basically told her the same in different words, affirming that this wasn’t going to happen and she would be returning home. Realizing how the atmosphere she was in would cause her thoughts to become deadly, I told her I wanted to share some spiritual truths with her and jumped into the “valley of death” from Psalm 23. After telling her that although it appeared she was there, God was leading her through and would not allow her to linger. I started reading the whole Psalm. She repeated certain words as I said them. We went through several more Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, with her repetition of certain words and parts of verses, as I read, causing me to realized that she was familiar with the truths of “Fear not,” “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,” that God was a very present help in trouble and had redeemed her, so she belonged to Him. I read her a poem by Anntoinetter Holbrook entitled, “For the Children,” which I had read and kept as I was passing a Plainfield Sunday school lesson to my nephew’s children. It begins, “God loves you, little children, dear, And guards you day and night; You cannot drift beyond His care, Nor stray beyond His sight…” When it came time to end the conversation, my friend’s voice was very different. She said the readings had helped calm her. The next morning, I received a text that the things read the night before got her through the night. She wrote, “the angel of workers worked on me all night…I was so peaceful.” In that peace, the physical problem, an obstruction, gave way, and the body’s natural processes took control. A day and night have passed since then and her thought no longer fears, but is filled with love for all around her in the hospital. Her thought is in the “secret place of the most High”, keeping the peace of God within her, active. God leads us to where we need to be. I am so grateful to be a witness to God’s attentive care over my friend and for being able to share what I am, as a Christian Scientist.