Heaven's Rehearsal

Her name is Alice....no really, her name is Alice, I didn't make it up this time!

We arrived at our appointment this morning and we sat down taking our jackets off and putting them on the spare chair beside ours. We only do that when there is hardly anyone in the waiting room so that we're not taking up extra space unnecessarily, but at 9:00 in the morning its usually pretty quiet in there and so we figured it would be alright.

They called Wes in and that left our jackets in one chair, the empty chair that Wes just vacated and then me. Other than me there were only two other people there so I didn't feel the need to move the jackets closer.

Then she walked into the room, she was a smaller woman with dark curly hair, probably in her seventies. She was wearing her blue ballgown (as one of the ladies calls their hospital gowns) and carrying her schedule. She walked into the waiting area and made one beeline to the empty chair between me and our jackets. She settled herself in as I greeted her.

"Have you been coming here for awhile?" she asked

"Yes" I replied "But, we are almost done!"

She nervously opened her folded schedule and held it out to me.

"Can you help me figure this schedule out?" She looked like a lost little girl and I took the sheet of paper from her and began to explain what was a treatment and which were doctor appointments. She breathed a sigh of relief and told me she understood.

"Thank you," she said quietly "I just started my treatments yesterday and I wasn't sure how this all worked."

"Not a problem." I said with a smile.

She folded up her paper and shifted it from hand to hand as we continued making small talk about the roads and where we were from. She asked me why I was there and I told her about Wes and she shook her head and expressed her concern with a quiet "Oh my!".

As I spoke, her eyes never left my face and she moved closer to take my hand and her compassion caused my tears to roll.

She leaned across the chair and put her face by mine and with a determined whisper "Miracles happen!"

I smiled at her resolve and said "I know, my husband is a walking miracle"

She patted my arm "So am I. That's how I know miracles still happen"

She took a deep breath and sat back to begin her story "I had gallbladder surgery in 1989 and something went wrong and my liver was damaged. The doctors told my husband that I had 2 years to live, that was 19 years ago. Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, but they caught it in time it was stage one. I couldn't take chemo because of the damage to my liver, but they managed to help me anyway. And now I was diagnosed with breast cancer again, this time in my left breast, so here I am. But, they feel they caught it early enough again, it's in stage one again."

"Wow, you've been through a lot!" I responded.

"Yes, I have, but I believe in miracles. Do you?"

She asked so innocently that I had to stop myself from chuckling as I answered "Yes, my husband and I are Christians so we definitely believe in miracles"

Her eyes sparkled and she grabbed my hand again as she leaned in "I'm so glad you have faith! So do I!"

From that moment on it was like we were conspirators in a 007 movie. We talked in muted tones as if we were the only ones in the room. We shared quiet laughter and silent tears. We spent time discussing our faith and our families, our ups and our downs. It was as though what we wanted to talk about was so precious that it deserved the dignity of hushed conversation.

Wes walked back into the waiting room and I knew our time was up.

"What's your name?" she quickly asked also knowing our time was running out "If you tell me your name I promise to pray for you!"

"Dinah Elias. My husband's name is Wes. What's yours I want to pray for you too!"

"Alice...Alice" (I couldn't pronounce her last name if I tried).

We hugged goodbye and she whispered in my ear "Don't forget I'm going to pray for you!"

"And I'll pray for you! I hope we meet again"

"Me too!"

As we walked away Wes asked "Who was that?"

I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders, "I have no idea, I just met her. Her name is Alice and she's praying for us and I promised to pray for her too."

As we walked up the stairs back up to the first floor I thought about Alice and our instant bond. We talked casually about schedules and illness, but when we shared our faith the dynamics of our beings changed drastically. Our eyes were shining, our smiles came easily, we felt safe and at peace.

I don't know if I'll have a chance to see Alice again since our treatments are done as of next Wednesday so our chances are pretty slim but I hope so.

As we stepped outside the hospital doors to walk down the street to our Blazer I smiled as my thoughts went Heavenward. 'Heaven's Rehearsal that's what that was.' I thought to myself, 'Can we even begin to imagine what a reunion that will be? Fellow Christians that we have known our whole life will be there and even those we have only met here for a moment, but it will be as though we have always known them.

And of course we get to see Jesus face to face, now how exciting is that going to be?"

"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" Revelation 5:13