Are You Coming Home? - Shirley S. Tye

When my father passed away October 11, 1994, I pleaded with God to give me a sign or somehow assure me that my father had gone to heaven. I thought he had but communication became difficult with my parents when I moved miles away and didn’t use my mother-tongue (Finnish) often. I could not express myself well enough to have a deep conversation with them and my father was a man of few words. I wasn’t sure of his relationship with Jesus.

God saw the anguish of my heart and answered me in a dream.

Shortly after the funeral, I had a dream. I walked into a large beautiful building much like the seniors’ home my father had lived in. I stopped to ask a young man who was washing the floor where my father was and he said, “Oh, he’s probably having lunch on the patio.”

I hurried down the long hallway to the cafeteria. Although it was lunch time, there were very few people. I walked out to the patio. Large flowering plants cascaded from baskets hung on the sparkling white granite walls. The patio was made of white marble and there were several white wrought iron bistro tables each with four matching chairs set far enough apart to allow for private conversation. Delicate crystal bud vases sat on the tables with pink and red roses. Surprisingly there wasn’t anyone on the patio.

Then I heard talking and laughing coming from the balcony to me right. There were people up there enjoying their lunch. I saw my father sitting at a table by the edge of the balcony. An elderly lady sat across from him. I’m not sure who she was, although in the dream I had a feeling of recognition.

My father called down to me in Finnish; “Are you coming home?”

I answered in Finnish; “Yes.”

He asked a second time in Finnish; “Are you coming home?”

Again I replied in Finnish; “Yes.”

A third time he asked in Finnish; “Are you coming home?”

The third time I answered in Finnish; “Yes, I’m coming home?”

Then I awoke. My immediate thought was that my question had been answered. But now at times I wonder if that dream actually answered my question yet I was comforted by it. I’m able to carry on without worry on the path the Lord has set before me. God comforted my soul – that’s what I really needed. Thank you, Father.