A Woman named Esther

A good number of years ago my friend across the street told me a story I would love to share with you. It is really a very special story.

Anne lives her life constantly in the Word and God has used her to reach many, many others in her daily routine. One day a 93 year old woman named Esther came in for a doctors appointment. Anne and she were talking (Anne totally gives 200 percent to any good person that comes her way---and Jesus is always right there). Esther began to tell Anne how she didn't think she would be long for this world. She hadn't been feeling very well during that winter and truly felt her time was near. She was trying in her way to say "goodbye" to Anne. Anne said how truly wonderful it was that she would soon be going to a far better place and that she would look upon the face of God. Anne speaks with such positive enthusiasm and love for Jesus. Esther just got all choked up and told Anne that for the first time in 65 years she felt the need to share a past experience that she had during childbirth with her firstborn child. She had never shared this with anyone before. 65 years earlier this pregnancy went wrong and she needed a cesarian section in order to save both hers and the baby's lives, but during this ordeal she died. She told Anne how everything turned very bright. She tells Anne how the ground was like gold with brilliance so bright she could barely see. The brilliance was like sparkling stars of sand...glittering upon her. She was met by a man who said "Esther, yes, your name is in the Book." Esther told the man that her husband needed her. At the time she did not know she had a daughter that needed her too. Esther was brought back to life on that delivery table, but she never shared that experience with anyone until Anne. Anne was so excited and filled with awe that she began to quote word for word from the Bible. Esther was taken aback...and so Anne told Esther she wanted to come to her home and share Revelations 21 with her. True to her word, Anne dropped by Esther's home and began reading this chapter which details a new Heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. It describes the wall as being built of jasper and the city is pure gold, like unto clear glass. The foundations are built of precious stones, the gates of twelve pearls, and the street pure gold, transparent as glass. And yet the city has no need of the sun or the moon because the glory of God lightens it and the Lamb is the light thereof. Isn't this lovely? Esther never spoke of this experience to anyone since, not because she was afraid people would think she was nuts, but because she had feared that her name is no longer in "the Book." At this moment in Esther's life, God placed Anne there to lift Esther up, open up her spirit, mind, and heart to allow her to accept that the Light of the Lamb has always been shining upon her... and most of all to assure her that, yes, her name is still in "the Book."
by Gail Schmidt