Sustained by the Kingdom Hope

IN APRIL 1987 Lila, a woman in her mid-80’s, watched her husband die in a hospital near Portland, Oregon. The eyes of the sympathetic nurses were fixed on her. She looked at the corpse and then stepped up and patted it.

“You have been a good husband,” she said. “I will see you in the resurrection!” Then she turned and said: “I said that because I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Let me explain.” She went on to tell about the resurrection and God’s new world.

Later, as she was leaving the hospital, the heart specialist that had treated her husband approached her in the hallway. He paused and expressed his sympathy. She immediately began to explain that she would soon see her husband in the new world through a resurrection. She gave quite a witness before he tore himself away, saying: “Lila, I hope it happens that way for you.” As he was turning to leave, Lila said: “It will, and I want to see you there too!”

Unknown to Lila, the doctor had been called on by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now, observing how Lila’s faith strengthened her during the stress of her husband’s death and hearing her positive hope for the future, the doctor was encouraged. He and his wife continued their discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A few months later, in January 1988, Lila began to get sick and ended up in the hospital. She was not responding to medication and appeared to be slipping away. The heart specialist heard about it and immediately went to visit her in the intensive-care unit. He asked: “Well, Lila, how are you doing?”

“Not so good, I guess.”

“You are missing Erick, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I suppose I am, more than ever.”

Then he spoke to her about the Bible’s promise of seeing Erick again in the resurrection, as well as the hope of eternal life in perfection in the new world. Actually, these were the very things that Lila had told him earlier when her husband had died! It was the best medicine that he could have given her. She perked right up, was out of the hospital within the week, and resumed the Christian ministry with renewed vigor.

And what about the heart specialist? He and his wife dedicated their lives to God and were baptized at the district convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Corvallis, Oregon, in June 1988.​—Contributed.