Tomorrow's Promise

By Mary Elizabeth Robinson

When Mary Elizabeth Robinson lost her mother, father, and brother, her life changed forever. To those not blessed with a faith-filled heart, the events might seem tragic and unimaginable. But Tomorrows Promise is a story of struggle turned to triumph. Marys faith in God revealed to her an amazing power at a pivotal time in her life, offering her comfort in a moment of supreme challenge.

There are times in our lives when God is right in front of us. Most people will never experience His presence or comprehend that life never ends until they face their own death. Marys story is a powerful testament to faith and its impact on our life, death, and resurrection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781449701208

Mary Elizabeth Robinson

The wonderment and curiosity of this life and the journey that follows after death started for me at the age of twelve after watching my mother painfully suffer and die from cancer. She was a devote Catholic and her passion for her faith was a backdrop for all of her children. It served me well. Little did I know twenty seven years after her passing I would discover a profound blessing so powerfully moving, it would change my life forever and become my purpose. The emotional pain of losing a parent, especially a loving and nurturing mother, brought an enormous shift into my life. I was too young to understand or see the forces behind it all. For so many years I focused on my broken heart, but immediately after this huge hole opened up, I was fiercely obsessed with where and if our souls continue on like promised in the Bible. Was there a tomorrow? Did my mother now reside in heaven? I was taught and learned about heaven and a life of eternity. My faith and hope in God allowed me to believe nothing else. She was in heaven and watched over my like an angel.

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Tomorrow’s Promise

Mary Elizabeth Robinson

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Copyright © 2010 Mary Elizabeth Robinson

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-0122-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0121-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-0120-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010924454

Printed in the United States of America

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/14/2010

Contents

The Final Goodbye

Where the Journey Begins

My Dysfunctional Family

Another Storm

Restoration

A Merciless Cancer

My Purpose Defined

Heaven Miraculously Unfolds

Secrets

All Power Cannot Be Seen

Chapter One

The Final Goodbye

Death had been a profound lesson about perfection and the lack of it in my life. It revealed new perceptions about the way I viewed life. I understood how delicate life was. We got a call in March that my brother was leaving. The cancer won its battle. It had been almost nine months since this all began. At times he believed he could wage his own war on cancer and win. We wanted to believe it too, but we knew the destruction it had already placed within him from the very beginning.

The last time we saw him was in October. We noticed then the strain on his body and his constant struggle with eating and sleeping and the pain that he never admitted to or discussed with any of us. He was always hopeful and never once complained to any of us. His significant weight loss made everything apparent. It made me worry for what was yet to come.

Donnie lived in Florida, my sisters both live in New York, and I live in Pennsylvania. We wished for more times together, but it was difficult to arrange travel. We talked a lot on the phone and through e-mails. As soon as I got word Don’s life was ending, my husband and I talked about me taking another flight down there to say my final goodbye. I was hesitant—not because I didn’t want to, but because I felt like I could not put on the bravest face ever and walk in his room and tell him anything without an emotional scene. I knew he would not want that, and I was definitely unsure if I was strong enough. I was scared. After much contemplation, I decided to go the last weekend in March.

I arrived on a Friday and flew back out on Sunday. Before my flight, I stopped by my local church and knocked on the door of my priest’s home. I explained my brother’s fate and asked if he would please ask God to bless me with the strength I needed to get through this last visit with my brother. He prayed to our Heavenly Father for His love to protect us. I thought any extra prayers would be a blessing and couldn’t hurt.

During the flight down, I just kept going over and over in my mind what I was going to say and what Donnie would look like. My stomach ached as I thought of how frail he would appear. It had been four months since I had seen him. He told me he was losing more weight all the time. It was one of the most difficult experiences I had ever witnessed in my entire life. It was as bad as walking in the funeral home to see my mother in her casket when I was twelve years old. I had to be strong for him. He was the one who was going through hell, and I had no right to act like a baby at this time.

I met my sister Natalie and my cousin Diana at the Fort Lauderdale airport, and we took a taxi to the hospital. It was a warm Florida afternoon. The sun felt good. I tried to imagine that this trip was a fun vacation, but my heart and stomach wouldn’t allow it. I was anxious. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing another family member to cancer, and even after all the messages we had received these last nine months, I knew his death would allow him to live within a new beginning in a most wonderful place. He would soon be in the arms of our mother and father. His cancer would be gone, he could be pain-free, and all the hurt from the abuse would be lifted. I was heartbroken to think of never seeing him again or not being able to pick up the phone and talk. That would be the difficult part. His new beginning gave me a peace that was indescribable to most going through a loss. These were the last moments of his life, and there wasn’t a simple way to let go. I did not feel angry. I knew he was leaving this natural world to be with our parents in an eternal world. In fact, my heart was filled with an immense sense of envy. I know that sounds very strange, but that is how I felt. My heart filled with a pure love, and my eyes filled with tears whenever I imagined his first embrace with them. It would be glorious.

We got to the hospital and walked down a long corridor toward his room. It seemed to take forever. I was nervous and worried about my youngest sister’s reaction. She tried to be so brave, but I felt it was going to upset her when she saw him. From a distance, we saw his legs covered with the white blanket in his bed. I was trying to figure out what would unfold in just a few seconds as we got closer to his bed. My heart was beating so fast. I hadn’t seen him in over five months.