Last night, I watched a two-minute clip of Tammy Faye Messner’s television appearance this week with Larry King, and this morning, I watched more of the interview on YouTube.

In both instances, I cried.

The image of Tammy Faye on television was compelling. This larger-than-life woman has ended her battle against cancer and is now biding time until the inevitable. Even so, her trademark optimism shone through a frail, 65-pound cancer-battered body.

When asked what her doctors have said about the amount of time she has left, Tammy Faye responded, “I ask them not to tell me.” Struggling to catch her breath because of inoperable lung cancer, she continued, “I don’t want my faith level to go down. So I don’t…I don’t know. That’s in God’s hands.”

Is she afraid? “I don’t fear. I’m concerned, Larry, but I don’t fear.”

If there ever was an example of a person facing death with dignity, it is Tammy Faye. No matter what happened in her past, today she is a testament to the power of faith and to that of the human spirit. I will be fortunate to have a fraction of her courage at the time of my own death.

May God bless her, ease her suffering and welcome her into his arms.