In all I am, do, and will write, my aim is to hit God's mark. I will have moments of being misguided as I am not perfect, but know that I serve a God that loves me through it all.
It's almost been two months. The phone call one never wants to receive. My baby niece was dead, accidently run over by her teenage sister. I briefly blogged about it in my last post.
How does one follow a blog post like that?
I've written a blog here and there in my head, sat down to type it out, and had frozen hands. I just couldn't post about the mundane or silly things goin' on around here. Not without first writing a follow up of my last post.
Problem is...I just wasn't ready.
Until now...
GOD IS GOOD! My family has been seeing so many unexpected miracles throughout the last two months. We can truly feel the many, many, many, many prayers flying to Jesus on our behalf. There is just so many ways God has revealed Himself through this tragedy.
Take my four year old nephew. He asked his parents when was God going to bring the baby back after He was done "fixing her". Later in the day he came inside shouting to his mom to come and look...he had found the baby! He was pointing up into the sky intensely and describing a scene playing before his eyes: there was the baby with a "big Jesus helper" (angel) and traveling before them was the littlest baby (his mother had miscarried at 15 weeks four months prior to the tragic death of their youngest.) He insisted they were there in the sky.
We believe God gave that little guy a vision. And gave to us a small glimpse to remind us that He has those little babies safely in His hands.
The memorial service was beautiful. My brother is a pastor and really felt God still wanted him to lead the service even though it was his child that had died.
We all tried to talk him out of it.
I'm glad my brother insisted that he must follow God's lead. He spoke of the adoration his little baby had for him and how he looked forward everyday to spending time with her as she lit up all around him. She was a joy because of her adoration toward him. He used that picture of his now deceased baby's adoration to show how God wants our adoration. We are to adore God. It brings God such joy.
The sermon continued with demonstrations on HOW to show adoration toward God: love your wife, submit/respect your husband, honor/obey your parents, forgive, repent, etc. In other words: Obey God.
Those who were closed to hearing God deemed the sermon "inappropriate." Huh? Since when is it ever inappropriate to point others to The Great Comforter?????
Those, however, who had ears to hear and eyes to see loved the sermon. We have seen unsaved loved ones turning toward God during this time. I even had one unsaved friend who attended the service say that it was the most clear explanation of what it means to "serve God" that he had ever heard! He got it!
Two weeks to the day of my niece's death, my own son was born arriving nine days early. The miracle is that my sister-in-law AND my teenage niece (the one who had been driving the car) were at the birth of my son. I had a homebirth with a midwife attending.
It was a beautiful and emotional time. My newborn son was placed into the hands of my niece as soon as possible. She just held that little boy and cried and cried and cried. A healing cry.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Life goes on.
We all have our moments, but healing is continuing. I am most asked how my teenage niece is doing. She is doing well. She has moments that she "loses it." Maybe a song or a comment or a memory will trigger a meltdown, but for the most part she is strong. She, fortunately, had a strong relationship with the Lord even before this tragedy and knew where to turn in her sorrow.
She and God are best pals now. The tragedy has opened doors for her to share her story to many, many people. As she tells her story, she points them to God. And, that my friends, is what it is all about.
And, this week my sister-in-law announced she is pregnant again! May God use this pregnancy to further the healing process. Amen!
Oh my, what a horrible tragedy. But, what a beautiful post you have written today. I am so terribly sorry for your loss and will pray that God continues to reveal to you and your brother's family the good from the utter sadness.
