In this month of May, on the twenty-seventh, it will be a year ago that the Lord called my dear friend, Nella Mierop, to Himself, in answer to Christ’s prayer, “Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me, that I may manifest unto them my glory.”

Of late she had said at different times that she hoped she wouldn‘t live much longer. In fact, already thirthy-three years ago, whcn she underwent brain surgery in the medical center in New York, she was disappointed that she again awoke on this side of the grave. Her friend Clarkie. who was a nurse, witnessed her operation upon Nella‘s request. When at the end of the day (the operation was an all day affair) Clarkie tried to rouse Nella by saying, “Nella, this is Clarkie,” she got no answer at first. After Clarkie tried several times to get response, Nella finally said, “Oh, hello Clarkie.” This satisfied Clarkie, knowing that the operation had not affected her speech. Later Nella admitted that she had heard Clarkie in the first place, but that she didn‘t want to wake up this side of the grave and therefore had not answered.

   

At that time the Lord heard my prayer for her recovery as well as that of many others, among them the R.B.I. student body who joined me in petitioning the Lord for her recovery. This writer literally cried unto the Lord on her behalf. The Lord answered, because He had yet much work for Nella to do—at first at the R.B.I.; then in the Ripon, California, Christian school; later in the Christian school in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area; and lastly, during her years of retirement in Holland, Michigan. The Lord knew that during that whole time I needed her in many ways.

Observe that thirty-three years ago the Lord heard my prayer; this time He answered Nella’s prayer. She was fervently praying the Lord to take her. During the nine weeks she spent in the Holland Hospital with cancer of the spine, she would daily hope—in the morning that the Lord would take her during the day, and in the evening that He would take her during the night. What long days these must have seemed. She couldn‘t move about without help because now both legs were lame due to pressure on the spine. Soon after entering the hospital she couldn’t eat or drink without a most unpleasant reaction. Even a half teaspoon of liquid would upset her stomach. She had a similar reaction to the smell of food, the odor of flowers, the talk—of those in the room, the coming in of visitors, the whispering of those who helped care for her—in fact, to almost everything she would have an emetic reaction. As the Lord was most kind to me in sparing Nella thirty-three years age. He was most kind in delivering her now. Shortly before her death when we were talking about the song, “That Will Be Glory For Me” her face lighted up with a smile when she said “Glory for me!” Glory it was indeed when Nella went to be with Jesus Who is now manifesting unto her His glory!

In John 14 we see that comfort is related to truth. Jesus promises to send the Comforter Who will lead His people into all truth. If comfort is related to truth then is it not true that the richer our knowledge of the truth the richer will be our comfort or, at least, can be? Doesn‘t this among other things mean the following?

1. The richer our knowledge of the attributes of God (such as wisdom, love, longsuffering, compassion, mercy, grace, justice, etc.) the richer will be our comfort? 2. The greater our knowledge of the promises of God, the richer will be our comfort? 3. The greater our knowledge of the covenant of God, the richer will be our comfort? 4. The more extensive our knowledge of biblical history, the richer will be our comfort? 5. The more profound our grasp of propositional truths, the richer will be our comfort? 6. The deeper our knowledge of biblical doctrine, the richer will be our comfort? 7. The more real our knowledge of the fellowship of the saints, the richer will be our comfort.

In the light of all this and more, the Spirit of truth says to all of us Christians whose dear one or dear ones have died in the Lord: “Comfort ye, com.fort ye, my people.” Let us pray that we may concentrate on the glory these dear ones are experiencing rather than on the loss we are sustaining.

At 6:15 A.M. on May 27, 1975, Nella’s heart stopped beating. I pulled the cord of our clock out of the socket at the hospital at 6:26 A.M. It still stands still. I expect not to connect it again until this May 27, when Nella will have been in heaven for already 365 days. Those of us yet on earth will never ever catch up, will we, with those who have gone before us? Until we get to heaven we can’t experience what they have already experienced. On May 27 my friend will have basked in the glory of the Triune God for already a whole year of earth’s way of reckoning.

How much the following words as well as the Word delivered by God’s faithful ministers and the prayers they offered must have meant to her in these trying days of anticipation:

“When all my labors and trials are o’er, And I am safe on that beautiful shore, Just to be near the dear Lord I adore, Will thro‘ the ages be glory for me.

“O that will be glory for me Glory for me, glory for me; When by His grace I shall look on His face, That will be glory, be glory for me.”