shaken, mostly stunned because we had no further
opportunity to be with Dad or talk to him. As the day unfolded,
we were required to make a number of decisions that would
define my father’s life. We made calls to our families, and many
times we were so choked up with emotion, we couldn’t even
talk.
My husband, still in California, though he had gotten the
news earlier in the day, called later in the afternoon to ask,
“Have you heard God’s voice today?” He added, “You don’t
want to miss God’s voice.” Then he encouraged me to spend
time alone with God, talking to Him and listening to Him.
Our shared daily habit of listening to God talk has remained
the same for years. Each day we open a 365-day Bible to
“today’s” reading—so listening to God talk to us on that April
27 would be no different. On that day, the New Testament
reading relayed the story of Jesus talking about life after death,
found in chapter 23 of Luke. The last verse of the day’s reading
said, “And Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, today you will be with
me in paradise’ ” (v. 43 NLT).
As if heaven came down into my heart, I heard God talk to a
daughter whose father had breathed his last breath and who
needed comfort and assurance. On the day my father died,
through my daily, planned Bible reading, I heard God saying to
me, “Today, your dad is with me in heaven.”
Now, I don’t want you to misunderstand me by assuming
that I believe this verse in Luke was written about me or for me.
But I do want you to understand that I believe God talks to me
on any given day by comforting me through Bible verses I’m
reading that day.
As I sat upon the bed in the very bedroom I had occupied as