When I was seven I went to my first week of summer Bible camp. During a service,
the minister shared about committing your life to Christ. I wanted to but I
wouldn't because in my young mind, all I could think about was my dad. He
refused go to church with my mom and me and this would mean he wouldn't be going
to heaven too. I couldn't bear to leave him behind because I loved him so much.
I went back to my bunk that night and sobbed into my pillow and asked God to
help me with my dilemma. I continued my faithful church experience but never
read the Word and didn't spiritually grow because I didn't know about developing
a personal relationship with Him.
When I was in my thirties, my dad had a heart attack and went into a coma for
six days and nights. I stayed at the hospital day and night thru that time (I
slept in a recliner in the hall outside intensive care). I thought about my
Bible camp experience and I was concerned about my dad knowing Christ. I had
never dared approach him on the subject and he sputtered about anyone who came
to the door to share their faith.
I decided, while rubbing his arms and hands as he lay in his coma, to talk with
him (in the event he could hear) and so I did. I talked about the Lord. I told
him it was time for him to ask Jesus into his heart and to be Lord of his life
so he could experience heaven and not hell. I said the prayer as I could best
remember from my Bible camp experience and asked him to think the prayer after I
said each sentence. I carried through with this ritual every day he lay there
unconscious. On the 6th evening the heart specialist insisted I go home to rest
and he promised I would be called if there was the slightest change.
We were called at 5 am and my husband, my mother and I went to the hospital, and
were told that my dad had passed away. The doctor also told us, "It is unusual
for me to do this, but I insisted that he not be touched or moved until you
could come in to see him."
He raised the sheet that lay over my father's face and there he was with a smile
on his face and the dimples were still set in his cheeks." The doctor (who was
50-60 years himself) said I've never seen anything like this before.
My husband (who was not into spirituality either) and I felt this tremendous
sense of peace and that my dad was present with us at the funeral home but that
it clearly wasn't him lying in the casket - only a shell. It was the most
incredible sense of ‘knowing that you knew’ that he was with God but not
something we could clearly understand or share on a level someone would believe.
About ten years after that, I moved to Florida and stumbled on a church that
taught about relationship with God and needless to say, I became a student of
The Word. I firmly believe my God heard that little seven-year-old’s prayer and
never left her side from that day forward. I am also convinced that my dad is in
heaven today and that he rejoiced as the angels escorted him to heaven and
hence, the smile on his face. "…And His Word did not return void!”
Brenda Ford Miller
brenfm@tampabay.rr.com
A little bit about Brenda:
Brenda Ford Miller, originally from western New York, now lives in Seminole,
Florida, is married to Jim Miller and they share six terrific children, four
grandchildren, and a beloved cat named, Abe. Newly retired, they are enjoying
traveling among other interests. Brenda enjoys writing and basketry. She is
grateful to God for a life full of blessings.
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