I have a good friend whose mother is dying. She is a dear old Christian (92 years old.) My friend has gone to be with her in these last few days to help in any way she can.

It's a hard thing to be with someone you love while they are going through this dying business! She says her mother is more than ready to leave planet earth and can't understand why she can't just die and be done with it.

I am reminded of PSALM 116:15 which says: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." For us, death is our out-going. But for Him, our death is our home-coming. He is excited about it because we are about to come home to be with Him forever.

As the days of our lives draw to an end, our physical persons become weaker and weaker. But our spirits are actually becoming stronger. It is a process which seems to take time. But at some point our spirits get stronger than our physical bodies can hold and then at last we fly away!

When you are waiting to die or watching someone else go through that process it is hard to imagine why it can't just be over. But I think all the while God is busy preparing us a place. And one of the wonderful things about God is He is always right on time--never to early, never too late.

So when it is just the right time, the person is released from his body, released from the tether which holds him to the earth, and set free to fly home to the Father who is excitedly waiting for that home-coming. What a celebration there is waiting there for each one.

I don't like the dying process from a physical standpoint. But I do think it is an exciting time in which our true selves are not becoming weaker but stronger. It does not yet appear! Death remains a mystery in many ways. But what a wonderful thing it is to realize that if you are born again, there is a wonderful home-coming waiting just right there. No darkness and horror or flames for us! Only light and love and joy and peace. No more worry or concern or limitation or sickness. But real life which goes on for ever in the presence of the Lord.

There is a grace or anointing for dying just like there is for living. God help us when it is our time, to find that grace and to end our course well and in such a way that it is a blessing to others and not a torture! We go to a far better place. A place prepared for us by our Father who loves us best and most. Rev Mary