I spent the first couple months in a frozen state. It took every ounce of strength I had, to just take care of myself! No pain on earth can really compare to losing your child. Nothing! I felt like I now had a life sentence with this new pain. How could I escape? It went with me.
I never questioned God. I honestly felt I understood why God allowed this. My son had suffered alot on this earth with schizophrenia.
When Jake was fourteen years old, one day he woke up all excited. He told us that he had been to heaven last night. What was interesting is that I had just finished reading a book of a man's testimony, of heaven. He had fallen off a scaffolding and died. His wife prayed until he came back to earth. However his entire story was so much like what my son was describing, that I just knew it was true.
What had happened Jake? Did you die? Did God just take you there for a visit? No one knew.
Jake said he just arrived there. The streets were pure gold like glass and you could see through them. He walked up to the gate of pearls and touched it. Electricity came out of it and knocked him on the ground. Then the gate opened and he walked in. He saw the beautiful city of mansions.
"Mom, I picked a mansion and I walked inside. There were chefs in there preparing a meal and I ate food that was like nothing on earth, it was so good.
I walked upstairs and I saw an angel sitting by a window rocking a baby. The baby told me that she had been aborted, but for me not to be sad. She was happy now with Jesus.
Then everyone started running toward the throne. The baby got up and walked down the stairs and out with the crowd.
Angels were twirling in dance. The grass doesn't flatten when you walk on it. The flowers were more colors then on earth and brighter if possible. I heard music.
I ran towards the throne and I saw the beings around the throne. They were creatures.
I didn't see God but I felt Him. I felt more love and peace then possible on earth. Then I saw Jesus.
His eyes were pure blue but like fire. He turned to me and told me that it wasn't my time yet. He said I had a work yet to do on this earth. I argued with Him. I said, No Lord. I love it here. Please let me stay. But all of a sudden I felt myself flying through the universe. I got hot from going so fast.
The next thing I knew, I was taking a breath in my body."
I was in awe of his story. It blessed me so much to hear about heaven. I feel so strongly that God gave Jake this experience for my sake. God knew when Jakes time was going to come and it has given me so much peace, having already experienced heaven through the eyes of my son.
Just a few years later Jake started having symptoms of schizophrenia. Soon he felt that what he had seen was only a delusion. He started to doubt God in his life. He had so much psychosis with his illness.
He had some pretty awesome friends, but his friends are atheist. They took care of Jacob in a very special way. Jake was never alone. But soon he was falling away from his strong belief in the Lord and believing what his friends did. He told Nate one year before he died that he had now become an atheist.
Nate asked him what if he died today and found out that he was wrong? Jake responded that maybe it would be good to keep some belief. Jake was a chameleon. Who he hung with, is who he became like.
So he had some friends that cared about him like a brother and he began to believe what they believed.
God saw this happening to my son whom HE loved so much. I believe He rescued Jake from falling further. I believe He took my son away from his mental illness into a place of wholeness.
God knew how much this was going to break my mother's heart too. He had prepared me that morning with a dream. I had this dream that I got a special doll for my birthday, for my collection. I have a great love for dolls and I have even sculpted some realistic life sized infants in polymer clay.
Well the Lord showed me that I was to get this doll for my birthday. It was actually two days after my birthday, but I woke up with this incredible desire to have this doll for my birthday. I went on line and found one forsale.
Then I got the call from Jake's friend. Alex could not get Jake to wake up by calling in the windows and his car was there. He had been trying for quite some time. So I went over to get help from the office and there I found him. He was gone. My baby was not there.
Later I felt so crazy about so many things. My shock was over whelming but through this shock, I remembered the dream. I knew that Jake was with God when I had this dream that morning. I asked God why? He knew my son was dead. Why give me a dream about my birthday?
The answer came to my spirit. Jake had died two days after my birthday. He didn't want my birthday each year to be remembered by his death. He wanted me to celebrate each year and remember that God even cared about my birthday in the midst of losing my son.
You see to God, it wasn't pain. He simply took my son home. But He wanted me to have something to remember each year. Celebrate your birthday Terry. Don't make that the day you grieve over your son.
When we know Him, it can be alot easier. How would I even deal with this if I didn't? I could not even live if I thought this was the last time I would ever see my son again. I would have to die with him. The pain is just too great even when I know where my son is.
The doll arrived the day of Jake's wake and I didn't have much joy in her arrival. I was consumed with my son's loss. But I knew that in the future, she was a land mark that would give me joy on my birthday for my whole rest of my life. I do enjoy her now too. But all the dolls in the world don't mean anything to me compared to my son. She is just a marker from God that He wants joy and not grief from my heart.
When He died on the cross, He says in His word that He bore our griefs. I have taken that at face value. I have prayed and reminded Him that He did that. He bore my griefs.
Trust me, I have felt grief to the point that I thought I was going crazy. I have hurt so bad that I thought my insides were coming out. I have cried so many tears, I don't know where they all have resided, until now.
But it has been nothing compared to how bad it would be if I thought I would never see Jake again. He is still my baby and He is waiting for me to arrive and see him again. He wants to show me his mansion that God has given to him.
He also wants me to bring with me, his friends that he left down here on earth. He loves his friends so much. They mean the world to Jake.
Something in their lives has taken them in the direction to believe that God doesn't exist. I am praying so hard that they find out He does, before it is too late for them. I want them to have a party one day with Jake. I know that this would be the greatest blessing for Jake if I bring his friends to heaven one day. None of us knows the day or the hour of our death either.
I pray so hard his friends find Jesus in time. He is worth finding. They will know fulfillment that atheism can't offer. They will know Love that this world can't give.
I still have pain. I still break down and cry at least once a day. Other things hurt me alot easier right now because that pain just lies beneath the surface. That horrible picture of finding my son's body still tries to haunt my heart. I deliberately replace it with a picture of him, as he is now. Glowing and alive with God.
Take care of my baby God. He means the world to me. I will see you soon Jake. I love you!
Terry Quinn
http://www.parentingfasdkids.com
kidznlildogz@aol.com
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