We recently attended a “celebration of life,” where a saint’s story of a vision from God came to light.

 Long before her cancer diagnosis, the woman whom we were honoring told a confidant about her spiritual visitation. She saw herself carrying garbage bags filled with trash up a long flight of stairs. In the vision she realized that Jesus was near, and he reached out to take the bags away.

As he lifted them from her shoulders, he said, “You’re beautiful,” and the woman treasured his tender words within her heart.

Then came the cancer.

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 Under hospice care nurses arranged this elderly soul’s pillows one last time. A friend held her cool hand and leaned close to her ear. “You’re beautiful. So beautiful…” the friend said, and the afflicted saint grew visibly animated.

Her friend had no idea that, years before, Jesus had spoken the same phrase to this woman in a vision. With the words, “You’re beautiful,” spoken softly by the friend, Jesus was unsealing the powerful reality of heaven. The woman ceased struggling to breathe. Her frame relaxed, and her suffering ended forever.

The friend had become the “lips of Jesus,” reminding a dying saint that eternity was at hand.

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How many times has the Holy Spirit spoken through you — and you had no idea it was happening? Isn’t it humbling to know that God appoints believers as messengers of grace in his chosen season?

Paul the Apostle tells us:

And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God…

 I Cor. 2:4-5 (Paul to the Corinthian church)

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalms 116:15