The Funeral Prayer
By Sarah Martin
We have a dear friend who is an
avid soul-winner. She tries to witness
to someone every day. She once had
trouble with her drains and when the plumber came, she led him to Jesus. She really appreciates her salvation because
she hasn’t always had it.
As a young person, she didn’t know the
Lord. Like so many in our society, she
married, had two children and divorced. She had custody of their daughter and
her husband had custody of their son.
When she started walking with Jesus, she had a deep gratitude for all
that He had done for her! She prayed
faithfully for her children and her ex-husband.
Her daughter came to know the Lord and eventually married a Christian
and had a happy home.
By this time, her son was nearly 20 years
old. His father believed that a little
“recreational” drug use was acceptable and he had introduced the boy to this
lifestyle. The mother was grieved and
fearful, but she prayed all the harder.
One evening, her son called to tell her
that he had received Jesus as his personal Savior. She was overjoyed! She rejoiced and praised the Lord. Then she admonished him, “Now, son, you will
want to stop using drugs because that doesn’t fit with the Christian lifestyle.” He was a little irritated, “Oh, Mom,
everybody does a little bit for fun.
When I’m at a party, I don’t want to be a square.” The mother began to pray every day that this
son would see the danger and turn away from drugs completely.
Two weeks later, she received a phone call
from her ex-husband. “I am sorry to have
to tell you that our son is dead. He
accidentally overdosed and he died last night.”
This was devastating news. The boy was just starting to turn his life
around and now it was over. This
dedicated mother found herself battling resentment against her ex-husband. She kept thinking that if he hadn’t
introduced drugs to the boy, their son would still be alive. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t
shake that thought.
The
remains were shipped to her for burial and my husband held the service. It was a very sad time and it was difficult
to find any redeeming value in this loss of young life. My husband began to share scriptures as they
came to his heart and soon found he was talking about the great value of
forgiveness and redemption. At the close
of the service, we all walked quietly to our cars.
A couple of days later, our friend called
and she was all excited. “Guess
what?!” She said, “I repented of my resentment
toward my ex-husband and when God gave me the victory, I called him. I told him that I forgive him for getting our
son involved in drugs and that I am praying for his soul. A couple of hours later, he called me back
and he was sobbing. He said, ‘I don’t
know what you’ve got, but I sure need to get it!’ I led him to the Lord right there on the
phone!” Praise God for His wonderful
mercy and love! God turned her weeping
into tears of joy!
