Lori had the gift of premonition.

Particularly when it came to her children, as many mothers do, she would always know when one of them was troubled. Usually, shortly after she would mention it, her phone would ring and it would be one of her kids with some serious-to-them crisis that only ‘Mom’ could resolve.

The evening that her precious granddaughter, Lilly, was killed Lori began anxiously pacing around our home, looking at her phone, waiting for the call she somehow knew would soon come.

“Something is wrong” she told me.

“One of the kids?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied “I can’t tell, I don’t know what to do.”

She continued to pace, increasingly anxious as her phone remained silent.

Finally a call, her youngest daughter, Megan, in a state of panic, because her best friend, Brittany, had not yet arrived home with Lilly.  She had tried calling Brittany numerous times but with no answer. Lori tried her best to calm Megan, all the while becoming more concerned herself.

They hung up and Lori continued to pace, hoping the next call would be that Lilly was home safe.  She knew that was not going to be the case.

Shortly after, as her phone rang again, Lori looked at me with fear on her face and sadness in her eyes as she struggled to answer, “Hello”.

Moments later Lori collapsed to the floor wailing, “No! No! Oh, no!”

*****

Shortly before Lori’s own death she suddenly turned to me while riding in the car and asked “Do you feel like everything is coming to an end soon?”

Somewhat taken aback by her question, I asked, “What do you mean?” hoping to learn more about why she would suddenly ask such a thing.

“I don’t know,” she answered, “just that everything is going to come to an end soon”.

As I began to explain my own beliefs about Biblical end times prophecy, the seeming increase in world tensions, severe weather and earthquakes she stopped me mid-sentence.

“No, “she exclaimed, “that’s not what I mean.”

“What then?” I asked.

“Just that everything is going to end.  Nothing but blackness.  Nothing. No tomorrow…and soon” she explained.

“How soon?” I inquired.

“I don’t know” she replied, “but soon…very soon” her voice trailing off as she turned back to look out the passenger window.

Lori didn’t mention it again.

Ten days later, she was gone.

 *****

I’ve thought about Lori’s question many times since her passing.  Wondering what she had felt or envisioned that had prompted her question.  Had God revealed a glimpse of her own future without Him?

The very day after her question she turned to me in church and told me she wanted to be baptized.  The following Sunday she tearfully confessed her faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and was.

The blackness of a future without Him now replaced with the vivid hues of heaven and endless tomorrows to enjoy it.

She knew.  I’m certain of it. She knew.