Oh, what a bittersweet moment for me. The girl of my dreams just concluded a 15-year journey through the bewildering, terrifying land of Lewy body dementia, with its associated cruel diseases and crippling disabilities.

Her body said, “No more,” although her spirit fought to the very end.

She died as she lived, with quiet dignity and ferocious courage. Ann loved and trusted Jesus Christ, who was her Best Friend and loving Savior.

She quietly flew into Jesus’ arms two weeks ago, knowing that when she closed her eyes here, she would open them in glory.

I was privileged to hold her head in my arms and whisper in her ear, “It’s OK to let go, Annie. You have suffered long enough.”

In that instant, her heart stopped beating and she took her last breath after 85 years of life.

My loss was Heaven’s gain.

Is there grief? Oh, yes.

To lose the intimate company of one of the gentlest, engaging, funny, authentic human beings on earth is borderline unbearable.

But because Annie had come to faith in Christ and been born again decades before, I have her “Forwarding Address,” where, as shared in Revelation 21:3-4:

“… the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Annie is now on a “cosmic joyride” in her new body that will never again know disease or dysfunction. We both knew, despite countless earthly trials, that our lives here are brief and that eternity beckons.

We also knew that Jesus had faithfully promised in John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

The only condition is that we must believe it.

I was honored to be joyfully “imprisoned” with Annie as her full-time, in-home caregiver — and I did not want to be anywhere else, not for one minute.

If asked, I would do it over a hundred times. She was that worthy, that deserving, that precious.

I was amazed, despite the loss of her health and with it, loss of countless freedoms (that healthy people take for granted), she never complained, not once.

She had spent her working life as a highly regarded licensed occupational therapist, blessing her patients with skill, spontaneous humor, uncommon grace and deep sensitivity. She was beloved by patients and co-workers alike.

When Ann was initially diagnosed with LBD, she knew what was coming: fluctuating cognition, changes in alertness and attention, visual hallucinations, Parkinson’s‑like movement symptoms, rigidity, slowed movement, sleep disturbances, mood and behavior changes, depression, anxiety, delusions and more.

She often could not tell whether she was awake or asleep, or where her body was, spatially. Yet Annie faced it all courageously. I am still in awe.

Already I miss the lovely smell of Annie’s hair, caressing her beautiful face, holding her delicate hands, listening to her gentle breathing, picking up the little sounds she would make, even though she had long since lost her power of speech.

She kept her eyes closed most of the time but still would respond to my approach, however quiet.

It’s the little things, the barely perceptible signs that formed an unspoken language between us. We are spirit beings and we learned to communicate spirit-to-spirit over the past seven years or so.

The Reason for the Hope

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14: 

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.”

When speaking of the death of one of God’s children, the scripture calls them “asleep,” not dead, inferring an interim state in preparation for glory.

There are three words in the Greek for life, biological life (Bios), personal/soul life (Psyche), and divine/eternal life (Zoe). It is that priceless Zoe life that believers receive when they are born again, assuring them a place in Heaven.

Never More Alive

We survivors are not to grieve as those without hope. Sure, it hurts, but not for long. We will see our loved ones again in Paradise soon.

We don’t mourn death; we celebrate eternal life.

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