Grieving with hope

Published by christi on July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

My father-in-law died this week.

He was 93, having served in the army in Germany at the end of World War II and in Korea during that conflict, and died in his son’s arms, peacefully.

He leaves a legacy of ingenuity, courage, cheerful steadfastness and hope.

His death leaves a hole and a fullness…we will speak with him no more in this realm of shadows, but we will see him in the glory that was his design after we have gone to join him…because of Jesus

In the meantime, we have tears for the empty chair in his living room; we have courage for the miles we must drive to memorialize him; we have strength for the laundry that we must wash and pack; we have room for the laughter we must remember; we have sighs for the aches we must bear, and will go on living…because we trust the same Jesus.

And we have abundant fruit to harvest, share, can and dry, despite the onslaught of leaf-hoppers and the death they seem to bring to the grapevines.

My neighbor has lost three relatives to cancer in the last two years, and he is fighting his own battle with leukemia. I have grapes and prayers to offer in Jesus’ Name.

The youngest of the four-generation household on the other side love the red grapes that are just ready to bring in. The oldest there is older than my late father-in-law, a survivor if there ever was one!

It is a fact of this life that death comes to all (except Enoch and Elijah).

But we are not a people without hope; our hope is not for better days or easier ways, but our hope is IN the God whose promises are never broken.

We hope in God who cannot lie.

We wait for Him who gives strength to our weary hearts.

We put our trust in the One who raised Jesus from the dead, and wait for our own resurrection!

Following Jesus in the everyday-ness of grieving…

Christi

P.S. for a song that declares the what God has promised check this out