*Today's post is by guest writer Sandy Hall*
September 29, 2004, 7:02 p.m. - Sarah was born, much to the relief
of the dear mother, father, family, doctor/midwife, and friends. As Sarah
entered the world, we held our breath, waiting for her to breathe. Come on, little
one.......what seemed like a minute or two passed, but was only a few
seconds......there it is! A lusty wail was heard as her lungs filled with air,
a totally new experience for her. Her eyes opened and her parents looked into
them for the first time. Sarah was handed to me as I sat on the bed next to the
momma. Just minutes later, Sarah's sister came forth and the same
anticipation occurred. We waited.......come on, baby, breathe!.......Ah, yes,
then Mercy cried out. She was okay. We all exhaled. Mercy's eyes were open,
gazing about at all the new sights. What a special moment to see the faces of
these two new daughters for the first time. Mom and Dad and their five other
children welcomed with tears of joy and relief these two new little ones. What
a privilege to be there as these babies breathed their first breath of life.
October 21, 2004, 5:30 p.m. - Bill lay quietly on his bed at
the nursing home in Riverview. His eyes were closed; there was no response from
him. His wife and I talked quietly to him and to one another. Every once in a
while we stopped to listen to his breathing.......shallow.......with
pauses......in between. Several times we leaned over waiting for him to breathe
again.......15 seconds passed. Come on, Bill, breathe. There it
was........another long, slow exhale. Minutes later, there was a 20 second
interval between breaths. We talked quietly on about how wonderful of a man he
was, how she loved to serve him and make his life happy.......a long pause
again.......20 seconds passed.......then 30......I leaned over to listen for
his next breath. I took his hand and tried to find a pulse. No more breaths
came, no pulse. He was at rest. Bill entered heaven with joy and rejoicing. The
pain and suffering of recent months was all gone; He was seeing his Savior
face-to-face. For his wife, a time of sorrow and relief. Losing a husband two
times in 5 short years was not easy. What a privilege to be there with her and
with Bill as he took his last breath.
Such were the experiences I had just three weeks apart that fall.
As I drove home after Bill had died, the words of the verse in Genesis 2:7 came
to my mind, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life; and man became a living
being." I had watched Sarah and Mercy breathe their first air; I had
watched Bill breathe his last. Yes, the babies were very much alive in the womb
with their needed oxygen coming through the placentas from their mother's
blood, but seeing them take in air for themselves for the first time was
amazing. Who tells them to do that? Think of all the physiological changes that
must take place for this to happen. And for Bill, who told him to breathe his
last? Why at that moment? "For it is appointed unto man, once to
die....." God! He is the answer to the first and the last breath we
take. He is the source of all life. He gives it; and He takes it away. And as
many have said through the centuries along with Job, "...the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21b
Obviously, if you are reading this article, you are breathing. You
probably don't even remember your first breath of life at your birth, and most
of you were not conscious of your breathing throughout today.....unless you
felt out of breath chasing two toddlers all day! When will your last breath be?
At this point in time, only God knows. Are you ready? Will you be ready when
your last breath comes? Do you know what will happen to you then? The Bible tells
us in Hebrews 9:27 that "...it is appointed for men to die once, but after
this the judgment." If you have acknowledged your sin to God and asked Him
to be your personal Savior, since He has already paid the penalty for your sins
on the cross, you can be absolutely assured that you will be with Him. If you
are not sure what will happen to you when you breathe your last, please read
the following verses from the Bible:
Romans 10:9, 10, 13 "If you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.....for 'whoever calls
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"
From our first breath to our last....."Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow" (Psalm 144:4). Because of that, "Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord" (Psalm 150:6).
By Sandy Hall
All rights reserved. Please ask permission before copying
this article. Thank you. mom5j@yahoo.com
Read more...
Many years ago when Bud
and I were young newlyweds, we were working with the teens at our church. We
planned a YAC (Youth after Church) for a Sunday night and had about 30 kids in
our home for fun and food. Bud divided the teens up into teams of 4 or 5, gave
each team a penny, and sent them out into our neighborhood to trade that penny
for something bigger and better. They could trade up as many times
as they could convince people to trade, and they had to be back to our house by
a certain time. Off they went! Some very interesting items came back to our
home that night! Lots of laughs. I remember a bird cage even. But the one thing
that was most exciting to this wife and soon-to-be-mother was a dryer. It
didn’t run….but that didn’t stop us. Bud discovered it needed a $7 part, fixed
it, and we were good to go. I think we used that dryer for our family of 7 for
about 20 years!!
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