grieving with hope

I ran across this video on another blog, but after watching it, I needed to comment on it as well. I'm sure most of you heard in the news about the steven curtis chapman family that lost their five year old daughter in a tragic accident. Their teenage son was pulling into the driveway in the family suv, when his sister, five year old Mariah, ran into the path of the car and was killed. This video is an ABC follow up on the family since the accident and focuses on how they are dealing with the grief and pain involved when tragedy strikes. The dynamics of this story are even more heart wrenching because it was her own brother and their son driving the car.

As a father of two beautiful girls who mean everything to me, I can not imagine the grief, pain, and questions associated with a tragedy like this. You must wake up every day wondering how this could happen. How, but by the grace of God, could you possibly navigate between the grief of losing your daughter, and the comfort you know your son needs. As I watched the video, I was drawn to how the parents said they of course are grieving, but with HOPE. A hope they are anchored to, even when the pain seems unbearable. I also loved how even as a family with faith in God, they had questions. Faith is living with those questions and still choosing to trust God. I was reminded of the life of Job in the bible. He had lost everything. His family, fortunes, and his health were gone in a day. He had no way of knowing that God was "showing him off" to the devil. He thought God was responsible for all of it. In chapter one, after hearing that all his sons and daughters were dead, verse 20 tells us he tore his robe, fell to his knees, and worshipped. Then in Job 13:15 he declares...."though He slay me, yet will I trust Him". Job didn't understand what was happening or why, but he knew God was worthy of both worship and trust, even when he didn't understand. I lost my dad to asbestos cancer four years ago. He never worked with asbestos, why did he get it? I believed he would be healed, why wasn't he? I don't have all the answers, but I must choose to worship and trust beyond my understanding. Maybe for you its not a death. Maybe its a divorce or a broken relationship. Maybe its an addiction you've prayed and prayed about and aren't free. Whatever our situation, we must choose to believe that God is a restorer, and will make all things new again. When the enemy tries to attack my mind, I strengthen myself in the Lord and remember that no matter what, He can be trusted.

i hope you take the 8 minutes to watch this video, and have some kleenex ready. When it is done, take a moment to pray for the Chapman family and your own children. Give them a kiss and tell them you love them. Remember to thank God for the hope we have in Him.


1 Thessalonians 4:13---And now dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like those who have no HOPE. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when He returns, God will bring back with Him the believers that have died. Then together with them, we who are still alive will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then their will be one huge family reunion with the master"