Oh, the Holidays...

Let's just say it aloud together because we all know it's true...holidays sometimes just plain suck for the grieving (yes, I meant to use that word, sorry!).  I remember my first round of them after losing Jack.  Each one brought the pain searing anew into my heart.  At the holidays we gather as family... celebrating Christ and one another.  Those who are missing are magnified, it seems.  But, praise be to the one who will one day make all things new and right.  His Word holds so much hope and joy for us.  

Mother's day was especially hard (as one can imagine!), but I was so very thankful for a church who recognized the mothers who had lost children.  What a sweet time.  A time to not have to explain the tears.  Not have to explain the heaviness of heart.  To not have to apologize.  To sit in a room with people and not have to be alone.  The pain doesn't get easier, but I felt such joy when 3 years later I was given the opportunity to help in that service and give comfort to other women just as God had given me comfort.  I pray that through this blog and through relationships I can honor God by doing just what He asks of me in 2 Corinthians.  To comfort others through the comfort I have received.  I pray you do the same as the holidays draw near.  Sit with someone who is grieving and let them grieve.  Let them talk... or not talk.  Let them feel.  Let them cry... or laugh.  Just let them be right where they are.  Just be there with them... let them be comforted.

5/14/07 

So, this past weekend was great and yet very painful. Friday night the church had a service for women who had lost children through miscarriage, abortion, or early infant death. It was a beautiful service and there were far too many women there.

Isaiah 61: 1-3 

“The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” 

2 Corinthians 1: 3-5 

“Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” 

Sunday was Mother’s Day. My first holiday and 1st Mother’s Day since Jack died. It hurt my heart. We had a baby dedication during the church service. It broke my heart to not have Jack there seeing all those little babies… it wasn’t about me and I was happy for all those parents, but my heart broke to not have Jack in my arms. When will the mourning end? My guess is not this side of heaven.