We are healed before we enter heaven
He was a well-loved, elderly priest in who fell and injured himself very badly. In fact, it was to be a fatal injury. He had been severely afflicted with scoliosis for most of his life and while he was about 5’10” in height, with his back disfigured the way it was he probably stood about 5’0”. In fact, he was so bent over that when he consecrated the Eucharist, he held it up over his head but was unable to look upon it while doing so. Though retired as a priest, he volunteered his time at a hospital for many years and was well loved by the staff. He was especially good friends with the hospital Chaplin, who was a nurse and an ordained pastor at her church.
The Chaplin (who is a personal friend of mine) has a very special gift. When God allows it, she can see the angels and the saints. Since she’d formed a very close relationship with the priest and since she was a nurse, she was standing at his bedside in the intensive care unit. Surrounded by IV poles and various machines and monitors, she was present at the very moment he passed away. She told me that seconds before he died, she felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and said that she saw…
“two hands come right through all of the monitors and pick him up and cradle him. Then, ever so gently they rocked him from side to side and, like a peanut coming out of its shell, he left his body. At exactly this time, all the monitors flat-lined. She blinked and there he was, standing by his bedside, perfectly erect and smiling broadly. After a few seconds he disappeared.”
I don’t know about you, but I find that interesting. Not only does this story rate a “ten” on the goose-bump meter, but God actually healed this man of scoliosis before He took him to heaven. Why? Because disease has no place in heaven and Jesus heals us here on earth before we enter into it. Just as when we are born we bring nothing into this world, so too can we bring nothing into the next. It is therefore true that the only man-made thing in heaven are the wounds of Christ.
I do not have the gift to see angels and saints, but I know several people who do (besides my friend the nurse/chaplain). My advice to you is to surround yourself with people who have different gifts. While you may never possess the gifts and abilities they do, and they may never possess the gifts you do, but who cares? There is a certain awe and inspiration in knowing there are such talented people in our midst and in hearing stories like this.
It’s good that all of us possess different gifts. Because of this, we can all work together and compliment each other, just like an orchestra and after all, what would an orchestra sound like if it had only one type of instrument?
Did you enjoy this story? There are over 100 stories just like it in my book Heathen to Healer