That may sound like a bad title but it is true. My Mom has been ill for quite some time... obesity, diabetes, cancer of the jaw, and most recently lung cancer. The lung cancer was treated about a year ago, with total remission thought.
For the last few months she has had a severe pain in her left leg, her hip, she thought, thinking her back might be flairing up. SHe was in so much pain with this she could only stand to pivot to a commode near her chair. She hadn't slept in her bed, but only in a chair, for months.
Finally she somehow managed to make it to the hospital to see if they could help her back, and found out there was a tumor in her leg that was causing the pain. She was then taken in 2 days later for surgery to put a rod in the leg, lest it break. After surgery, she had a CT scan that showed her brain, lungs and nearly everywhere else full of cancer. It was obvious she wouldn't live long.
She woke up occasionally after the surgery to tell her family she loved them, and within 36 hours was dead.
So why a "thank God" in the title?
Every one of us is going to take that journey, the transition from this life to an eternal life. My mother was the perpetual worry-wort. If she had known for months that her cancer was back and terminal, she would have been out of her mind with fear. Not fear of dying, but fear of suffering as she died.
But as it was, she passed on without ever knowing her condition. She said that she knew she was dying, was in no pain, was able to tell her family she loved them and to say good-bye. What a way to go! She was able to complete everything in this life that was important to her before her death.
Glory to God in the highest! What mercy was shown to this woman and her family in her last days! We mourn our loss, but we celebrate her gain, and what a gain it is! Thank you Lord Jesus!