Vivian Grace  Dauer, Collard, Daugherty, about 19 years old

On Monday, the hospice nurse said it could take another week or 10 days. Yet when my sister, Karen, who lived three hours away, was seeking God that day whether to come to my house, she opened her email and saw one of the subjects for an email that said, “Hours left.” Although it was an ad for a product being on sale for only a few more hours, she knew God was leading. She quickly got ready and headed to my house, where we had moved mom in eleven days before.

By the next morning, mom’s condition had deteriorated a little but didn’t seem critical. She was still unresponsive but many of the symptoms of imminent death weren’t there. So right before Karen and I went out for our normal morning walk when she’s visiting, I told mom, “Mom, we’ll be back from our walk in a little bit. Larry is here to care for you. But if you want to head to heaven, we are ready. You don’t need to take care of us anymore. We love you.”

As Karen and I walked, we prayed that God would graciously take her soon and easily. And our request was that we would be beside her at her earthly exit. Our concern over the years since she had been diagnosed with COPD had been that that disease would bring a difficult death. Plus, she had an aortic heart valve problem that seemed like it should have caused her death years ago. We always knew God wanted her to live because He had kept her alive regardless of her many diseases and illnesses.

We arrived back at my house and went to mom’s room. Her breathing seemed about the same. But thirty seconds later, as we stood at her bedside, another breath didn’t come. Her face drained of color and her body gave a little jerk. Karen and I looked at each other, and exclaimed, “She waited until we got back!!!!” We cried as we held her hands.

Then we began rejoicing!!!! God had mercifully answered our prayers “yes!” She hadn’t suffered from a difficult death like COPD and we had been there to say goodbye. Plus, her death was peaceful as we rejoiced over her, knowing she was in Jesus’ arms. 

We both did a little dance and then hugged. Larry checked her eyes just to make sure and we all hugged again. We tried to picture what she was seeing but we knew it couldn’t possibly equal her new reality. What a privilege and joy to be on “this side” as she entered “the other side.”

I’ll write again in my next post about God’s mercies in the other ways He worked. Thank you for your prayers for our family as we know we will miss her.