“Did you post my dream?” Curt asked the morning after proofreading my final draft of the realistic and frightening dream he had the week before.
(see Your Old Men will Dream Dreams)
The following morning, on December 30 …
Curt went into cardiac arrest and home to Jesus.
I dialed 911 when I saw him in distress, and watched him take his last breath in this world as he was wheeled out the front door ... Still, the paramedics worked on him and continued to do so in the ambulance and in trauma room 2.
The ambulance driver approached me outside the room. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Do you believe in God?”
As I gripped his hands in mine, the power of the Holy Spirit surged through me like electricity. Through relentless tears, I prayed, “You say, where two or more are gathered, you are there with them. So, I thank you for being with us now, Lord Jesus. I lift Curt up for healing, not according to my will, but according to your divine will, Father God. If it is your will to receive him home, then I pray he enters guiltless, by the blood of Jesus, and in His Holy Name.”
Before removing the machines that had attempted to revive him, I entered the room and placed my hand on Curt's head. I asked God once again to receive him into His holy family, finally free of pain and weakness.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:22-26)
I wept, as I do now - considering my loss ...
That night was sleepless for me ... But, as the room darkened, a bright white cloud appeared over Curt’s side of the bed. It was three to four feet thick from the ceiling down and hovered over the entirety of his side of the bed. It curled into a thick comma shape at the head of the bed.
I marveled at that cloud all night.
I would shut my eyes, only to see it when I reopened them.
A couple of times I sat up
and swiped my hand at it,
“ J e s u s ? ”
The cloud remained until daybreak and has not returned.
Cloud (in Hebrew) means "a covering," because clouds cover the sky. The word is used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the splendor of that glory which it conceals (Exodus 16:10; 33:9) A bright cloud is the symbolical seat of the Divine presence (1 Kings 8:10; 2 Chronicles 5:14), and was called the Shechinah (q.v.). Jehovah came down upon Sinai in a cloud (Exodus 19:9); and the cloud filled the court around the tabernacle in the wilderness so that Moses could not enter it (Exodus 40:34). At the dedication of the temple also the cloud "filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:10). Thus in like manner when Christ comes the second time he is described as coming "in the clouds" (Matthew 17:5; 24:30). - Bible Study Tools
The following morning I raised a contact to my eye, and in my magnifying mirror I saw a round tear like a pearl reflecting the light, in the corner of my eye. It just sat there, round and perfect.
(John’s Testimony came to mind)
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21)
I believe these physical manifestations were God's affirmation of Curt's entry into heaven ...
"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7
Praise God!
Twenty five months earlier I received that call from Curt, informing me of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
(See My Testimony, part 1)
He told me of the peace he felt after praying about his cancer. He requested and received prayer from me and many friends. Curt believed in God. He believed in miracles and wanted a miracle ... But, he also accepted and entertained other beliefs, even voicing his own strength and goodness. He would often cut me off when I shared The Word of God, with a, “I know, Vicki.”
I recognized his ‘spiritual walk’ as my own - before God healed my stubborn heart and gave me wisdom to know that the truth could only be found in His Holy Word.
I prayed constantly for healing in Curt’s body, but more importantly, I prayed for the eyes of his heart to be fully opened to the truth …
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
Luke 15:3-7
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3-4
Curt suffered a mild stroke five weeks before his death. He had been experiencing severe neck and shoulder pain for a couple of weeks prior to his hospital stay. Tumors along his spine were the found to be the cause of his pain.
Brokenness is the stripping of self-reliance and independence from God. The broken person has no confidence in his own righteousness or his own works, but he is cast in total dependence upon the grace of God working in and through him.” - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Isaiah 5:15; 5:21
Curt ceased conforming to the pattern of this world. He became transformed by the renewing of his mind through The Holy Spirit that lived in him. (Romans 12:2) He became a new creation.
During his last weeks, I would pray the full armor of God over Curt. As he donned each piece, he would respond with a heartfelt, “Thank you, Jesus!”
He prayed, aloud, the prayer of salvation and became increasingly eager to hear of God’s goodness.
(see Billy Graham's prayer of salvation in footer)
Even in his afflictions, Curt glorified God daily in prayer and thanksgiving ...
until he went home to glory with The Lord.
"Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. they are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength."
1 Corinthians 15:43
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Romans 6:4
"There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."
1 Corinthians 15:40-44
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
Exodus 16:10
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
1 Kings 8:10
... and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 5:14
The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.”
Exodus 19:9
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
1 Kings 8:10
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
Matthew 17:5
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Matthew 24:30
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."
Proverbs 11:2
"For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world."
1 John 2:16
Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.
“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.
Isaiah 66:2
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as he is pure."
1 John 3:1-3
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
"The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels."
Revelation 3:5