Ever since I was child, death felt like a familiar foe.  Death gave me perspective at a young age of the value of life and how short life really is.  While the finality of death can be painful, it forces you to take a deep look at your life and really learn to care for and love the people who are still alive in your life.  Death made me live differently in the present.  

We recently lost David’s grandma, our beloved “Gigi”.  She was one of those people everyone genuinely loved.  As an in-law, stepping into someone else’s family can feel scary and intimidating, but she always welcomed me with loving and caring arms.  She never treated me as an “in-law”, but rather like I was one of her own, meant to be a part of the family from the start.  She made me feel like I belonged and that is a gift not many can give.  While death was experienced many times in my life, Gigi’s death has felt different.  In my experience with death, a large majority of it has felt painful, unexpected, scary, deeply sorrowful, confusing, and almost mean.  Death can bring up so many questions of the unknown and uncomfortable questioning of why and how.  With Gigi though… it was different.  

Gigi suffered from Alzheimer’s and throughout the years, we’ve been forced to grieve her as you see little bits of them start to close off.  The once extremely witty personality slowly started to fade and those parts that seemed so familiar, began to drift away.  That person you still know and see, starts to no longer know you or even call you by name and it forces you to start grieving that person you once knew.  So the process of Gigi’s death felt like it started years ago, but then so did the healing part of her imminent death.  Part of experiencing death is also experiencing healing through death.  Gigi was a strong woman of God.  To know Gigi, was also to know that she loved God with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind, and all her strength.  She was devoted to Jesus and if you didn’t know that, you didn’t know her.  Thinking upon that, knowing where Gigi was going has been absolutely healing because we know that we are going to see her again. Gigi lived her life for something greater than the “here and now” and knew where her future home was.  She had certainty of where she was going after this life… and when you have that certainty, death doesn’t feel so scary.  Gigi’s death is the first death in which I’ve been truly excited for her… for years. For years, I’ve thought about the reunions she’s going to have in Heaven.  I’ve thought about the unexplainable joy and glorified body she is going to receive.  I’ve pictured the hug she is going to get from not only her husband, but from Jesus himself when she enters Heaven.  I think about the immense peace that she’s finally in and the light that she’s experiencing.  I think about all the things we can’t fully feel and see on this side of eternity.  She’s been running the race all her life and now she’s finally won it.  Gigi chose Jesus and now she’s resting with him in glory.  

Gigi’s death was different because I’ve felt immense joy for her and can’t help but smile when I think about the reward she’s received for her faith.  Over and over again, Paul’s words have resounded in my head, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8 That should be everyone’s ultimate goal in life; not money or all the riches on this earth, but the treasure of eternity in heaven with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  

In reflecting upon life and death, it gives you an opportunity to reflect upon your own life and future death.  What is it that you’re living for?  Are you confident of a future home in heaven or do you fear the unknown of eternity?  Do you know that you can live this life with 100% certainty of where you are going after your final breath on earth?  Jesus made a way for each of us and Gigi knew where she was going.  Gigi accepted Jesus in her heart as Lord and Savior and because of that, I know where she is and am confident I will see her again.  While the void of her is felt immensely on earth, the excitement of our reunion with her in heaven helps fill that large void. Death is a certainty in life, but where we are going isn’t… but it can be with Jesus.  Tim Keller once said “Everything in this life is going to be taken away from us, except one thing: God’s love, which can go into death with us and take us through it and into His arms.”

We can experience healing through death, through Jesus Christ.  Through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we too can experience resurrection in this next life.  Through Jesus dying for our own sins and rising again, death has been defeated and we no longer have to stay in the grave.  Jesus Christ gives me hope in abundance and because of this hope, I know I’ll see Gigi again.  This is the hope that each of us can have with great assurance.  “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21  I can’t wait to see Gigi again in heaven, all within and surrounded by the love of Jesus Christ. What a great hope that is.