20 results for tag: Easter

The Day Jesus Died

Directly in front of me were church members standing to read the account of the crucifixion that Good Friday. I was dressed in black—something to outwardly signify my setting aside time to think of the day my Jesus had died. But I didn’t want to listen as the Scripture readers gave voice to the stripes, the crown of thorns, and the cross at “The Place of a Skull.” Stuck to my chair, I diverted eye contact from the readers—looking through vision soft and wet to the wall at my right. Some weeks have passed between that day and this one—sitting down with the account of Jesus’ death for this series. I still don’t want to look because I ...

Because He Lives

“And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” -Revelation 21:5 Go back and read that verse again and again and again.  Our Great God is making ALL things new.  This, dear one, is the message of Easter.  This is what we have to look forward to.  This is the hope we have been given through the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Everything will be new and perfect.  Nothing will be damaged or spoiled or blemished by the darkness of sin.  The splendor of heaven is truly beyond the scope of our comprehension.  And anything less magnificent and unfathomable wouldn’t be heaven, would it? ...

Cling to the Cross

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 ...

Because He Lives: We Have Been Given New Life

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”1 Peter 1:3-4 READ: As mothers who have endured the loss of a beloved child, it can feel impossible to come out from under death’s dark shadow. Perhaps, for you, that shadow includes pregnancy announcements and invitations to baby showers that prick the scars left behind by loss. Or maybe it’s the nursery that stands frozen in time, a ...

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 ...