Yesterday a mother buried her son. He was a beautiful boy 18 years ago and now he is far under the ground. What would she give to get back Friday? Would she have said for the hundreth time, "If you drink stay wherever you are?" I'm sure she wishes she could but that all stopped when his car went into a ditch, he overcorrected and now is gone. We can't take back the moments but we can make the best of every moment.
Many ask, "Where is God?" I've asked that exact question different times in my life but I can't imagine losing a child. That child, the one that was just buried was protected by a covenant. He was being looked over by God. His death didn't surprise God. He was setting the stage along the way. One of his good friends, who happens to be a man of God, asked him just a few days before, "Did you accept Jesus?" He knew his friend was going to get mad but he asked anyway. The reply he got will give him peace for years to come. His answer was YES!
One bad choice led to a mother's anguish but her son's words will someday provide comfort. She may never understand why. She will struggle with her faith and her feelings. It will take time to heal and it will take time to grieve. My prayer will be that she finds Jesus in this storm. We will all be faced with challenges. This one is just uncomprehensible. My heart hurts when I think about her and the boys he was with that night. I grieve with her and for them. I feel her pain and I know that God is going to cover her and love her through her pain. I'm so thankful that I can feel for her and that I can pray for her. This life would mean nothing if we couldn't participate with people in their grief. Part of the hope that comes with Jesus is the heart that beats for His people.
I was reminded today that we really are like sheep. As I received a phone call summarizing the funeral and the collapse of a mother, I looked to my left and there, in the field, were a group of sheep grazing. They were white, eating and scattered and my thoughts went to the great Shepherd. We are His. At the end of the day, we are being watched over by our God. He surrounds us and loves us. He provides hope to the hopeless. He understands our confusion, our heart and our flesh. He loves us anyway. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is our hope for a greater future.
I can't take the pain away from a grieving mother but I can pray for her. I can continue to challenge all of us to spread the word of the gospel and I can sieze the day and ask people, "Do you believe?" Once we're gone we can't ask any more questions. If you love someone that's not saved, risk and ask. I'm going to challenge myself to continue to write, continue to challenge and continue to pray for the hurting, the lost, the hopeless. I'm challenging you to do the same.
I'm coming to you today asking you to spread the word for Jesus. If you like this blog and you have been talking to women about Christ or there is someone you have been witnessing too but it's just too difficult to really share your faith, direct them here. God will do the rest. Take heart my sisters we are being called to love those that God loves. He is calling us to pray, to petition and to be bold for Him. He doesn't need us but He wants us to be with Him, loving His people and spreading the good news. There's enough bad in this world to fill the television 24/7. Let's break that and give people hope by talking about our Shepherd.
Romans 5:6 NKJV:
For when we were still without stength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Titus 1:1-3 NKJV:
Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior.
My prayer today:
O, Lord, I come before You grieving for those that are grieving. I know what it feels like to weep and to wonder how life could ever be the same. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child and yet, you understand. You know the pain of every person who weeps tonight for their lost child. Our hope has to reside in You. My hope resides in You. Please dry their tears, put people in their path that will love them, and give them hope that tomorrow will be new. I'm asking You to herd all Your people. Please make us one voice, under one God. We need You Lord. I have to trust that You are here and that when we call out to You, You answer. Give us the strength to ask the hard questions, to love the unloveable and to proclaim that You are our hope. We have nowhere else to run but into Your arms. Thank You for our eternal life and for the promise that we can see those that have gone before us. Continue to prepare Your table and to guide us to the sheep that need You the most. We don't deserve to be loved like this and yet, You love us anyway. I am bound by my promise to You. I will continue to share my faith and I pray that as I do, Your people will come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!
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