Heaven -- Christianity; Near-death experiences -- Religious aspects; Private revelations
I turned my head and looked back into the room that somehow I felt I
was about to leave forever. It was in its usual good order: a cheery,
pretty room. The attendant sat by the stove at the farther end,
comfortably reading a newspaper; and on the bed, turned toward the
window, lay a white, still form, with the shadow of a smile on the
poor, worn face. My brother drew me gently, and I yielded, passing
with him through the window, out on the veranda, and from thence, in
some unaccountable way, down to the street. There I paused and said
earnestly:
"I cannot leave Will and our dear boy."
"They are not here, dear, but hundreds of miles away," he answered.
"Yes, I know, but they will be here. Oh, Frank, they will need me--let
me stay!" I pleaded.
"Would it not be better if I brought you back a little later--after
they come?" he said, with a kind smile.
"Would you surely do so?" I asked.
"Most certainly, if you desire it. You are worn out with the long
suffering, and a little rest will give you new strength."
I felt that he was right, said so in a few words, and we started slowly
up the street. He had drawn my hand within his arm, and endeavored to
interest me, as we walked. But my heart clung to the dear ones whom I
felt I was not to see again on earth, and several times I stopped and
looked wistfully back the way we had come. He was very patient and
gentle with me, waiting always till I was ready to proceed again; but
at last my hesitation became so great that he said pleasantly:
"You are so weak I think I had better carry you;" and without waiting
for a reply, he stooped and lifted me in his arms, as though I had been
a little child; and, like a child, I yielded, resting my head upon his
shoulder, and laying my arm about his neck. I felt so safe, so
content, to be thus in his care. It seemed so sweet, after the long,
lonely struggle, to have some one assume the responsibility of caring
thus tenderly for me.
He walked on with firm, swift steps, and I think I must have slept; for
the next I knew, I was sitting in a sheltered nook, made by flowering
shrubs, upon the softest and most beautiful turf of grass, thickly
studded with fragrant flowers, many of them the flowers I had known and
loved on earth. I remember noticing heliotrope, violets, lilies of the
valley, and mignonette, with many others of like nature wholly
unfamiliar to me. But even in that first moment I observed how perfect
in its way was every plant and flower. For instance, the heliotrope,
which with us often runs into long, ragged sprays, there grew upon
short, smooth stems, and each leaf was perfect and smooth and glossy,
instead of being rough and coarse-looking; and the flowers peeped up
from the deep grass, so like velvet, with sweet, happy faces, as though
inviting the admiration one could not withhold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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