The Power of Positive Thinking

I'm finishing up the book "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale (who happened to be one of Donald Trump's ministers/pastors. It's quite an impressive book and I've enjoyed it a lot. The following story really stood out to me:

Natalie Kalmus, scientific expert in technicolor, tells about the death of her sister. The following account given by this scientifically trained woman appeared in the inspirational magazine 'Guideposts.'

Kalmus quotes her dying sister as saying "Natalie, promise me that you won't let them give me any drugs. I realize that they are trying to help me relieve my pain, but I want to be fully aware of every sensation. I am convinced that death will be a beautiful experience."

I promised. Alone, later, I wept, thinking of her courage. Then as I tossed in bed on through the night, I realized that what I thought to be a calamity my sister intended to be a triumph.

Ten days later the final hour drew near. I had been at her bedside for hours. We had talked about many things, and always, I marveled at her quiet, sincere confidence in eternal life. Not oncedid the physical torture overcome her spiritual strength. This was something that the doctors simply hadn't taken into account.

"Dear kind God, keep my mind clear and give me peace," she had murmured over and over again during those last days.

We had talked so long that I noticed she was drifting off to sleep. I left her quietly with the nurse and retired to get some rest. A few minutes later I heard my sister's voice calling for me. Quickly I returned to her room. She was dying.

I sat on her bed and took her hand. It was on fire. Then she seemed to rise up in bed almost to a sitting position.

"Natalie," she said  "There are so many of them. There's Fred...and Ruth...what's she doing here? Oh, I know!"

An electric shock went through me. She had said "Ruth." Ruth was her cousin who had died suddenly the week before. But Eleanor had not been told of Ruth's sudden death.

Chill after chill shot up and down my spine. I felt on the verge of something powerful, almost frightening knowledge. She had murmured Ruth's name.

Her voice was surprisingly clear. "It's so confusing. So many of them!" Suddenly her arms stretched out as happily as when she had welcomed me! "I'm going up," she said.

Then she dropped her arms around my neck and relaxed in my arms. The will of her spirit had turned final agony into rapture.

As I laid her head back on the pillow there was a warm, peaceful smile on her face. Her golden brown hair lay carelessly on the pillow. I took a white flower from the vase and placed it in her hair. With her petite, trim figure, her wavy hair, the white flower and the soft smile, she looked once more, and permanently, just like the school girl.


Such an incredible story. And these kinds of stories continue today but they're simply discredited  or excused as basically nothing notable. I know that our lives are eternal. And that God set up a plan that allows relationships to last forever. Why would God make it possible for loving relationships to grow and strengthen exponentially if they were destined to suddenly end at death? He wouldn't.  God invented love and it's the most powerful feeling and force in the universe. It's more powerful than we can understand. It will last forever, and that gives me hope for the future