It Was Real!
HU Leads My Grandmother from Fear into the Light of God
By Nancy Rose
My grandmother, Anna Elizabeth, came to the United States from Sweden with her family when she was only six years old. She lived in South Dakota until she was ninety-seven. I loved her deeply.
Toward the end of her life, I traveled from Colorado to visit her. I sat with her each day as she made her way toward death, her tiny body dwarfed by the hospital bed she lay in. One day, near the end of my visit, I found her weeping as I entered her room. "Grandma, what's wrong?" I asked.
"I saw the old grandma lying cold and alone," she replied through her tears. A devout Baptist all her life, she was now afraid she had somehow forsaken Jesus. How was I ever going to be able to go home and leave her in this state?
Then I had an idea. I picked up a piece of paper and wrote the word HU on it in large letters. Then I held it up so she could see what I wrote. Abruptly, she stopped crying. "Grandma," I said, "HU means God."
"I have to go home tomorrow," I continued, "but if you sing or think of this word and then of your love for me, we will be together in Spirit. You won't be alone." Grandma's face brightened. We hugged, and I promised her, "I will see you tomorrow before I leave."
The next day, when I arrived, I heard the voice of a man talking with Grandma. When I realized her visitor was her minister, I waited respectfully in the hallway outside her room. I could see my grandmother from where I stood. She was radiant! Animatedly she asked the minister, "What was that golden light I saw yesterday?" He answered by reading a verse from the Bible. Visibly annoyed. she asked again, "What was that golden light? And once again he quoted scripture.
"It wasn't a verse!" she exclaimed in exasperation. "It was real!" I knew she had experienced the golden Light of God through the power of HU. When the pastor left, I entered the room. Light radiated from my grandmother's face as we chatted for a while. Then we hugged and kissed good-bye. We were both at peace.
A couple of days later, my partner woke up in the morning and said, "I think your grandmother passed on."
"How do you know?" I asked.
"I saw you in my dream. You were skipping through a sunlit field of daisies, hand in hand with a tiny old woman." Minutes later the phone rang. It was my mother.
"Grandmother died last night," she said gently, confirming what I already knew.
The vision of skipping through a field of daisies with my beloved grandmother lightened my heart. Soon after, I began to see her in my own dreams. Years later, we still meet in my dreams for joyful reunions.
I am grateful I had the chance to share the HU with my grandmother before she died. I know that HU, this beautiful love song to God, helped ease her transition from this life to the next and brought us both peace.
Nancy Rose lives in Oak Creek, Colorado