54 results for tag: Holidays

A Prayer of Hope and Encouragement For Thanksgiving

Father, if directed by my flesh alone, thanks might not pass from my lips easily today. My heart aches for the little ones who are missing from our family gathering. Their absence is felt deeply; their empty chairs taunt me. I am undone. In my sorrow, I call out to You, “How long, O Lord? How shall I endure this terrible affliction? These empty arms are more than I can bear!” I bring You my tears, my brokenness, my longing.  I know Your mercy will be enough. It always has been. You always have been. My cries matter to You. Each new day greets me with fresh mercy. My heart, shattered by grief, is being made whole once again. If left ...

This Thanksgiving, Remember That God Sees You

Mama, I see you. I see your tears, your ache, your pain. More importantly, God sees you. You are not alone, even if you feel like it as the holidays are approaching. "It’s the most wonderful time of the year," right? But often, when we're in the thick of our grief, it's not. The coming days may be hard, but not impossible. Even in the thick of our grief, our God promises to be with us constantly and consistently—and He is close, very close, to you, Mama.  Let me share with you a few ideas of encouragement this Thanksgiving, and remind you, even if you don't believe it today, that you will get through this. You will, brave Mama, with ...

My First Father’s Day: A Memoir

My first Father’s Day was not like the one we all imagine in our heads. Of sleeping in late and waking up to fresh brewed coffee and breakfast in bed. A neatly wrapped gift of a new tie. A chubby hand print picture with “I love Daddy” in mommy’s handwriting rainbowed over it. All this followed by a lazy day at home with wife and kid meeting my every need, serving my every desire, and making me a steak dinner to round out a perfect day all about me. #1 Dad. in. the. world. Yeah, that did not happen. Father’s Day 2011 was eight months after Gwendolyn went home. The sting of death lingered but was dulled by the demands of directing a ...

Sharing His Love on Mother’s Day

The weightiness of Mother’s Day was lost on me until I lost my son. I never considered how hard the day could be for those that longed for a child but experienced infertility. I never gave thought to how those that no longer had their child to hold might feel forgotten. The first Mother’s Day after my son passed away was incredibly heavy. It had only been two weeks since we had laid him to rest, and I was emotionally and physically exhausted. From the moment the sun began to shine through my windows that morning, I wanted the day to be over. I felt like a shell of a mother, and the last thing I wanted to do was surround myself with others ...

Unspeakable Joy on Mother’s Day

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 Joy—unspeakable joy—is one of the many emotions I experience each year as Mother’s Day makes its appearance. Joy that is intermingled with pain, happiness, grief, hope, anger, and thankfulness. Mother’s Day is a sweet reminder of the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me and my family, but it is also a day that is shadowed by loss. I have five beautiful children that are earth-side with me, and I have one beautiful little girl on the other side of glory. This will be my fourth ...

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 ...

Together Before the Throne

It was early in the afternoon on a Friday in January. I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office waiting for a quick ultrasound of the precious babe I was carrying. At my previous appointment I had measured a few weeks ahead of schedule, so my midwife wanted to verify that the due date I had been given was accurate. I didn’t mind at all. I would always welcome another opportunity to see this tiny child of mine. But as soon as I was called back and my baby appeared on the monitor, everything changed. My dreams for the future vanished beneath the deafening silence of a still heart. Later that afternoon, with swollen eyes and a broken ...

Resolved to Hope

Tomorrow we will wake to the start of a brand new year. New Years is accompanied by the idea of a fresh start. We make lists of the ways we’d like to grow or change, and make plans to implement new habits, learn new skills, or embrace new experiences. Often, these resolutions are driven by a desire for self-improvement. But what if this year we allowed our resolutions to be rooted in a deep desire to exalt Christ? What if we welcomed 2019 with a resolve to anchor our hope in the Lord and magnify His name through our grief? There is no circumstance in life in which placing your hope in Christ is not relevant. There is no valley so low that His ...

Our Hope This Christmas

The people of Israel were waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah. They were living under the threat of the Assyrians, who would later bring the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity, when the prophet Isaiah delivered news of a child who would come to dissipate the darkness and redeem the world from sin. This birth announcement was a glimmer of hope in the midst of the fear and sorrow. “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 We live in the space between the ...