16 results for tag: Easter
Easter Mourning
Never did the resurrection bring such comfort to my weary heart as when I first found out that my baby’s heart had stopped beating. I was suddenly faced with the reality of death and all that it had stripped me of—all of the firsts and all the memories that would never be experienced, the innocence and care-free naivety of pregnancy, and the sense of “completeness” for our family. Something—someone—would always be missing. Fear and anxiety now had greater access to my heart through the terrible wound that was opened in the wake of my child’s death. Grief would now be my faithful companion for the rest of my weary days on earth.&nb...
Consider the Cross
As mothers who have heard the words, “there is no heartbeat,” who have held the lifeless body of their precious baby, or who have watched their child take their final breath, the cross tells us that we are not alone. This day that we call “Good Friday” is the day that God watched His only Son die. Our God can and does empathize with us in our sorrow, because He has felt it too.
That cross—it is heart-wrenching and bloody. It is shameful and full of rejection. It is painful, and terrifying, and yet so beautiful.
When I begin to think about what my Savior endured on that cross for me, my soul weighs heavy. It is never easy to linger ...
20 Truths to Know about Jesus’ Triumph
In “One Unique Death Proclaimed,” posted on Good Friday, I write that Jesus does not brush past me in grief or scurry my wounds to patched-up, peripheral healing. Rather, Jesus addresses the core of my pain. Today, on Easter Sunday, I want to expound via twenty truths about Jesus’ triumph over sin and death:
Death affects all mankind, so we are wise to study in Scripture how it originated, what implications it has upon this present life, and what happens following it: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart&#...
One Unique Death Proclaimed
The kind people at my home church would have been able to tell you that I cried through nearly every service—that is, every service I had the physical strength to last through—for weeks after our daughter went to glory.
A HOME THROUGH SONG
At the mention of heaven, the sound of “weary” or “grief” amplified by the church’s speakers, or the proclamation of Christ’s triumph over death: tears.
I sobbed listening to this stanza¹:
When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re ...
The Hope of the Resurrection
"One day, there will be a great reversal of everything we're doing right now."
Pastor Chris said those words at Gwendolyn's graveside service, and it's honestly all that I can remember from his eulogy. It's all that I think of when I go by her grave, and whisper over her body - "One day, Gwenny! One day this will all be undone."
I love Easter. I love it more fully now because it is one day in our calendar year that the majority of our nation sets aside, whether they know it or not, to give glory to Christ's resurrection. Now I know that you can argue with me that Easter has pagan roots, or is now so commercialized that everyone just sees ...
Death is Swallowed Up in Victory
Death has shaken your soul to its core. Mine too.
When I first heard the words, “I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat,” it seemed like my life was being siphoned out of me. I strained to take in each new breath of air, and as I looked up at the monitor, staring at the stillness of my baby, I felt as though I was watching someone else’s nightmare unfold before my eyes. In that moment, death seemed to consume me.
The death of your child is an excruciating heartache that alters the course of your life.
There may be times when it seems as though you are being crushed and overcome by the weight of death. Perhaps you feel as if you will never ...
