TRUSTING GOD IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Not withstanding the prayers of people all over the world, Eva continued to fail. One day it hit me more clearly than ever that she would die. It made me mad and I let God know it! Like many people in my situation, I had refused to accept the obvious. One day as I was leaving our condominium, walking toward the elevator and venting my wrath at God, a presence seemed to be in that hallway. It was as if a voice spoke: “Trust Me. I am God. Let Me comfort you and give you peace. I will not change Eva’s condition. You want to be angry and rebellious about it. I want you to let Me change your heart.”
Once more, I needed to return to trusting God. I needed to repent and let Him calm me down again, and again commit Eva into His loving care.
About six weeks before she died, Eva told me the pain was becoming more intense. She became so preoccupied with her pain that she couldn’t think about anything else. She asked me to keep reminding her to look to God for peace. When she was relaxed, she said, the pain was less.
We prayed for wisdom. About that time, Dr. Steiner from Buffalo dropped in to see us. He taught us some relaxation techniques that helped greatly to relieve her pain. Together, Eva and I asked the Lord to teach us how to help her to be peaceful. We created a plan that combined physical relaxation and yielding her heart to the Lord.
For physical relaxation we did what Dr. Steiner taught us. I would kneel beside the bed and whisper to Eva, “Tighten your toe muscles and let them go. Tighten your foot muscles and let them go. Tighten your ankle muscles and let them go. Tighten your calf muscles and let them go.” We worked this way with all the muscles from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head. I will be eternally grateful to Dr. Steiner for his help.
In addition, we chose some Scripture verses that I repeated after the physical relaxation exercises. I would whisper:
This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24, NKJV)
This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10, NIV)
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts: . . . and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15, NKJV)
Then I would whisper, “Let the Lord give you peace. Just let Him give you joy. You need more today than you ever needed in your whole life.” By the time we finished this, she had drifted away into blessed, peaceful sleep.
We repeated this routine six, eight, ten times a day. Sometimes she would call me; sometimes on my own I felt the urge to go to her. We looked forward to these little meetings, and we actually enjoyed them in that we both knew we were participants in something beyond human understanding.
I do not for a moment discount the wonderful support, affection, sympathy, and help given to us by beloved friends. We had the best that human beings can give. However, we all witnessed something supernatural happening to Eva in those last several weeks of her life.
She continued to lose weight until she was down to seventy pounds. She became more and more serene as the end neared. There was a kind of angelic aura of joyful peace about her.
She allowed the peace of God that surpasses understanding to guard her heart and mind through Jesus Christ. This was Eva’s final word by living it out in her life:
Let the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds.
Philippians 4:7, NKJV