Today I received sad and happy news and found myself crying in front of many women at church. A good, older friend of mine has a sister who has been very ill for many years. Struggling with cancer. Going into remission only to relapse. And she is not saved. This is something my friend and our church have been praying about for years. Today my friend told me that her sister has been moved to hospice. The chemo has caused kidney failure and she is now struggling with sepsis. Her body, so weak, is just shutting down. The doctor said she would probably just get tired and fall asleep. So my friend has been running around trying to keep her from getting too tired. To hang on just a little bit longer.

The good news is that a group of kids was at the hospice center. A boy asked her if she had any prayer requests. She misheard him and thought he asked if she'd like to pray. She agreed on the terms that he would close it out. In that prayer she thanked God for Jesus. For sending Him to cover her sins. And she ended her prayer for the first time ever, in Jesus' name.

Hearing this I began to cry without realizing it. I knew how much my friend has been praying. Praying for more years than I've been alive. And I was overcome with joy for her. Sadness for her loss, but joy in knowing that they would see each other again in Heaven.

There are all these little things my friend is wondering about. Her sister resorted to this at the end, out of fear. She hasn't been baptized. But we have a merciful God. She said someone spoke these words to her:

Some will enter God's kingdom as mature believers and some will enter as babes. They won't know scripture or worship songs. But they will know God.


He is risen.