Joy Comes

Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” In July, 2015, when we went on our Hawaiian vacation just after Elisha passed away, we arrived at the airport, my husband and I and our 18-year old son. As we were waiting for our plane, we saw Drew Breeze, the football player, and his family sitting in the same terminal. They would be taking the same plane as we were to Kauai, however, they were sitting in first class. As I sat and watched their family interact with each other, and how people watched them, smiled at them and wanted to talk to them, I thought to myself “they are special.” I have always loved to travel with my disabled child because when Elisha was with us, I always felt special. When people saw Elisha, he attracted people because he was always full of joy. We were used to having people come and talk to us; they would see him and smile at us and I always felt significant when I was with him. Now, we were just like every other family and I thought to myself, we are not special anymore now that Elisha is gone. As I sat and thought about why Elisha attracted people to himself, I knew it was because of his joy, we always called him our joy boy, because no matter what the circumstances or what the situation, he always had a smile on his face, he always was completely care free and there was never a time when he was not full of peace and full of joy that just spilled out from him. Isaiah 65:14 says, “My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.” One of the reasons Elisha’s life impacted so many people was because his joy was infectious and people loved to be with him because when they were with him, he made others feel happy and joyful, as well. Now that Elisha is gone, it seemed that my joy went to Heaven with him and now all that is left is an anguish in my heart and a brokenness in my spirit. When I got on the plane, I decided to do a word study on joy. The scriptures are filled with the word joy, but one significant verse I found in the Bible was John 15:11 where Jesus says, “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” I felt special with Elisha because he had Jesus in his heart and there was nothing else there but the purity of the love and joy of Jesus Christ. The cares of this world never crept in and choked out his joy; the stresses of the day never robbed him of his peace, and he never ever took it personally when people were unkind and mean to him. He just loved everyone, no matter who you were and it didn’t matter to him whether you were crabby or not, he just always maintained his joy. In this passage of scripture Jesus maintained that His obedience to the Father was the basis of His joy, and what He was saying is that if you as a believer abide in His love and are obedient to His commandments you will experience the same joy. And as a matter of fact, your joy will be complete. As I was pondering this scripture, I looked up the word “complete” and it is defined as “not lacking anything, not limited in any way, not requiring any more work, entirely done, fully carried out, total, absolute, whole and perfect.” One of my least favorite scriptures in the Bible is James 1:2 which says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” James is saying that we are to make a deliberate and careful decision to experience joy in the midst of our troubles and trials. This is not easy for any of us to do, but it is possible. As I was on my way to one of the most beautiful islands in the world, I stepped back and looked at the bigger picture and for just a moment I realized that my suffering and grief, as heavy as it was, would ebb and flow, it would only last for a little while or a season, but joy would come in the morning, or whenever I allowed my Lord to dwell and abide in the depths of my soul. I am special and I will always attract others because the joy of the Lord dwells within me no matter what my situation and no matter what my circumstances. – Melody

He's Not Here!!! He Has risen!!!

Having grown up in a church with its prescribed liturgy, traditions were anticipated and carried out with a heartfelt enthusiasm, bringing life to teachings that could be lacking heart application but rigidly held to established doctrine. The Easter season was truly a “season.” Forty days of Lent were followed by Holy Week, a week in which Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, all held significance and each had its traditions, and they all culminated with Easter Sunday. As a child, I always looked forward to our Easter Sunrise Service, although I’m not exactly sure why. As an adult, many of those childhood traditions have faded in practice, but there’s still a part of me that draws a deep connection with them. Today, I approach Easter knowing the music of the season will especially convey its magnificent, covenant and life changing truths. Jesus, the perfect, complete, eternal sacrifice has conquered death, once, for all time. The curtain in the Temple has been torn in two, from top to bottom, symbolically giving mankind access to our Creator and Sovereign God. And the musicians and congregations triumphantly echo the words spoken at an empty tomb, “He is not here!! He is risen!!” This Easter though I knew our celebration would be even more different. Our family was unable to gather on the Sunday, although we gathered earlier in the week. There were no sunrise services, but there were still services of celebration, but beyond that, it seemed the day would be quiet. Until......... My youngest son was visiting from New York City, staying with the middle son who had a work day on the Sunday. So Jon suggested we go to the gravesite of his uncle, my brother, who had passed away just before Christmas. Jon was with us for Tommy’s funeral, but he hadn’t yet seen the headstone given to him at the National Cemetery in honor of his military background. My heart was full as we left the service at our church, and drove to pick up Jon. We headed to the National Cemetery, planning to also go to the historic cemetery in downtown Charleston to remember too our infant daughter, Tonia, whose ashes were placed there many years ago in memory of her very short life on earth. God was doing what I never expected that Easter Sunday. My emptiness was beginning to shout, “He is not here!! He is risen!!” But there was a strong awareness too that echoed the truth of Scripture. Because He is risen, Tommy is risen!! And then again, because He is risen, Tonia is risen!! I had already shared with a friend that morning that her husband who had prematurely passed away just a few months ago, Jesus is alive, and Justin is alive!! Justin’s life had been an incredible reflection of the God he loved and served. And now, like Tommy and Tonia, Justin too is alive, and the joy of the resurrection, the hope and peace of the resurrection, was flooding my spirit as it never had before. “He is not here!! He is risen!!” For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. And it’s all because, “He is not here!! He is risen!!” – Bev (Related Bible reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

I Can’t do it

Psalm 66:16-17 “Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He did for me. For I cried out to Him for help, praising Him as I spoke."

“I can’t do this,”I cried out. I felt my sister embrace me, holding me tightly. These are the words I spoke to her as we found out my daughter Katie was on life support. All those years of  a mother’s greatest fear had become true. I knew in my heart  I could not bear this reality. How could I live on when I could barely catch my breath? Little did I know how my reality hadn’t totally hit me. The reality would come after the shock wore off and my new reality would continue longer than most have patience for.

This journey we have found ourselves on has many twists and turns. The journey can take us to the highest peaks and the lowest of lows. It is in the time of the lowest of lows when we have to fall back on our faith in God. Only His promises give us the hope that we can find a way through and survive the very thing we thought would kill us. So what promises can we stand on?

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us-even the loss of a child ... Phil 4:13
He is always with us, even unto the end of the world - even after the death of our child ... Matt 28:20
The Lord can free us from life’s burdens - even the burden of loss ...  Psalm 34:19
He gives us strength to go on - even after the loss of our child ... Isa 40:29
Peace, He gives us - even after the death of a child ... John 14:27
He will supply all of our needs - even when we don’t know what we need ... Phil 4:19
He will show us  the way to live - even after our child is no longer here on earth ... John 14:26
He will help us cope - even when we feel the pressures of grief ... Psalm 16:11
He will make the impossible possible ... Mark 10:27
What we think will destroy us, the death of our child, will open ourselves up to knowledge and gifts we might never have learned.- maybe even a new purpose in life ... Romans 8:28
Happiness is found when we trust the Lord - even after the loss of our child ... Proverb16:20
He answers prayers - especially after the death of a child ... Matt 21:22

Dear precious mom, hold on to Him like never before.  
His promises are true.  In trusting in the Lord, even in my darkest days, I not only was able to survive Katie’s death, I thrived, and I found a new purpose in living. If God did that for me, He will do it for you.

Lord, I thought I couldn’t survive the loss of Katie, but with You all things are possible.
Michele