Scripture Reading:
JUDGES 6:33–40
If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.
JUDGES 6:17
AFTER DECADES of a strained and tense relationship, Molly Benson and her daughter Peg had enjoyed ten years of closeness. There were afternoon walks and long conversations where they bared their hearts and dreams. But when Molly entered her early sixties, she was diagnosed with degenerative muscle and connective-tissue disorders that cause a gradual wasting of the body and eventually result in death.
When Molly learned of the diagnosis, she shared the news with her three grown children. “Pray that I don’t leave any of you until God himself is ready to take me.”
As the year passed, Molly’s condition worsened. She lost use of her arms and legs and was eventually confined to a wheelchair. During that time, Peg’s brother and sister moved away to start their own families. Peg and her husband, Rick, stayed behind to care for Molly.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Peg,” her mother told her on several occasions. “You are more than I ever could have hoped for in a daughter.”
Molly spent much of her time with Peg and Rick. Every day was filled with joy, because of the close relationship she had not only with Peg but also with Peg’s children, Molly’s precious grandchildren. Although she couldn’t do the more physical things she’d hoped to do as a grandmother, she could tell them stories and listen to them when they played make-believe.
When Molly hit her sixty-second birthday, she was completely crippled and the disease had settled in her lungs, making it hard to breathe. The doctors had warned that she might not live through the year. During those days, Peg would watch her mother sleeping and wonder how she was going to deal with the woman’s inevitable death.
Then, almost overnight, her condition worsened dramatically and she had to be hospitalized for lung congestion. Peg kept a vigil at her mother’s bedside, praying for her and singing familiar, comforting songs. Although Molly’s entire body was affected by her diseases, her mind was perfectly intact. Soon she could barely talk, but many times she would look at Peg in such a way that Peg was sure her mother was listening.
On the day before Thanksgiving, her mother seemed worse than ever. Peg held her mother’s hand tightly in her own. “I want you to know how much we all love you, Mom. And I want you to know that we’ll all be together again someday.”
Looking up toward heaven, Peg began to pray. “Dear God our Father, thank you for my mother’s love. Help us find a way to survive without her.”
Her mother remained still, but her eyes filled with tears. Then, very peacefully, she slipped into a coma. Finally, at 12:15 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, she died.
At the exact moment, Peg knew that the body before her no longer housed her mother’s spirit. A tremendous peace, like something she’d never known before, came over her. Life would be hard without her mother, but Peg had the assurance that things had worked out for the best. Everything was going to be okay.
Peg agreed with her siblings to take care of all the remaining business involving their mother’s death. After the funeral, the whirlwind of activity quieted down and in the weeks that followed the peace that had helped her through the initial days all but disappeared. Instead, Peg felt desperately lonely and overwhelmed with the idea of selling her mother’s house and the work left to do.
One night, as she felt she was drowning in grief, she began to pray, “Sweet Lord, please help me to feel your peace again. I believe Mom is with you now, but help me to really know it in my heart. Let me know everything’s going to be okay.”
Early the next day the phone rang. Just before Peg picked up the cordless phone, she realized that the other phone in the next room was not ringing.
“Hello?” When there was only silence, she hung up.
An hour later, the phone rang again, but only the cordless phone. Peg answered but no one was there.
Nearly two hours later, once again only the cordless phone rang but no one was there. This time Peg unplugged the phone from the electrical outlet, knowing it couldn’t ring without electricity feeding the phone’s base unit.
Thirty minutes later, the cordless phone rang again. It seemed impossible. No one answered.
Peg hung up and pulled the phone away from the wall and bundled up the detached cording. Mentally she made a note to take the unit in for repair.
Another hour passed as Peg sifted through paperwork regarding her mother’s death. “This is hard, Lord,” she said with a sigh, feeling tears once again gathering in her eyes. “I miss her so badly.”
Suddenly the early afternoon silence was broken by the ringing of the telephone—not the wall phone. She followed the sound and felt a chill run through her body.
The cordless phone—no longer attached to either the electrical outlet or the phone jack—was ringing. Peg gingerly picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” Peg’s voice was soft, uncertain. Once again there was only silence at the other end.
Suddenly Peg remembered the date. It was December 11, her mother’s birthday.
Instantly she was flooded by the same feeling of peace that had washed over her the moment her mother had died. She thought about the prayer she had said the night before and knew that God had answered her. Everything really was going to be okay.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
ROMANS 15:13