I’ll See You In Heaven

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:13

Nearly 20 years ago, Twila Paris released the lovely song, How Beautiful. Whenever I hear the words, “How beautiful the feet that bring the sound of good news and the love of the King…†one person comes to mind, my grandmother, MemMem.

Before MemMem walked along the golden streets of Heaven, she walked with the light of Christ guiding her every step. She walked with love and she walked in faith. Standing four feet and ten inches tall, MemMem didn’t appear formidable. But she possessed a marvelous tenacity for God’s truth and she shared that truth with others. She shared that truth with me.

I’m sure there were some who wondered why a woman who had grown up in poverty, endured many trials, and was attacked by cancer in her mid-forties would pour her faith in God. Yet, despite all the psychical and emotional pain my MemMem endured, she never stopped believing. In fact, her faith increased.

As the cancer spread throughout her body and the number of days she was going to live on this earth faded, her faith remained bold and vibrant, and her spirit, peaceful. Just a few hours before her death, my beautiful MemMem wrote some notes to her family. Among her last words were, “Kiss the kids for me.†“Be good to each other.†“Go to Sunday School and Church.†And the most precious of all, “I will see you in Heaven.†Those were the last words she wrote.

I blew out eight candles on my birthday cake two weeks before MemMem met Jesus face to face, yet her final days are among my most vivid memories. What a legacy of love that sweet servant left behind! I knew Jesus because of her, and also because of her, I wanted to know Him more.

With all my heart, I believe that is the type of faith Paul wrote about in Ephesians, a faith that “extinguishes flaming arrows.†Yes, her psychical body died, that type of death is inevitable. But in the only battle that matters, her faith in the only one who matters led her to victory.

There is so much about Heaven that I do not know. But I like to think that when MemMem arrived at her eternal home and knelt before the glorious feet of Jesus, He showed her the fruit of her labor. I can only imagine her smile as she saw all the many, many lives who will one day join her in heaven because she took up her shield of faith and brought the Good News.