Soon I will return to earth This peaceful time to rest Feel your love surrounding me I always feel so blest Want to tell you I am here Waiting for your call Hearing every special prayer My heart will softly fall My wings are made for everyone With just one little prayer I'll fill you all with gentleness With love beyond compare Flying in the distant light You see my love each day Glowing in the softest mist You'll know I'm on my way Gather you within my wings I hold you very near Soothe your soul with special love You feel my presence here I'll comfort and protect you Within your life I'll stay Wings caress so dearly My light will shine each day ~ Francine Pucillo ~ ©used with permission

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)

 
Hope! Those of us who have lost a child or loved one really need a strong dose of hope. Our American culture doesn’t readily prepare us for death. When a child dies, even a grown one, we are brought abruptly face-to-face with the reality of death.

This raises all sorts of fears and questions: Is there life beyond death? Will I ever see my child again? If so, how is this possible? Will I have a body and what will it look like? Each of us can think of a lot more questions than these; the list could be almost endless.

Our theme is that those who know Jesus Christ as Savior will have eternal life and we’ll meet up with everyone else who has trusted Him in the next life. New Webster’s Dictionary defines the noun HOPE as meaning: (1) a confident expectation that a desire will be fulfilled, (2) wishful trust, (3) something which one longs to see realized, (4) a person in whom confidence is placed or who could provide what is wanted.

In the Old Testament, the words translated as hope mean confidence, refuge, expectation or waiting. The Greek word in the New Testament is ‘elpis.’ The main meaning we are using is ‘simply faith directed toward the future.’ This poem says it well:

In answering some of the above quetions, we have to decide in who or what you put your trust in. As a Christian, I’ve learned to put my trust in the Bible to give me hope. Romans 15:4 says, For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of scriptures might have hope." 

By the way, this wasn’t an easy choice. I was 35 years old when I became a Christian and confronted with the issue: Is the Bible true and how do I know one way or the other? At that time, the only way I knew to decide was to examine the Bible from my chosen life’s work: chemistry, physics and biology. Not only did I find the Bible to be scientifically true, I found some science beyond my comprehension. Some of the U.S. Patents I hold were based on truths I found in Scripture. 

So we find hope in such verses as: Psalm 119:74, "Those who fear you will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in Your Word."; Psalm 119:81, " My soul faints for Your Salvation, but I hope in Your Word."; Psalm 119:114, " You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word."

Scattered throughout scripture is a constant theme: It is though God that we have hope. We have verses such as Psalm 31:24, "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord."; Psalm 33:18, Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy."; Psalm 38:15, "For in you, O Lord, I hope…" Here hope is expressed as confidence in God.

Why do we have confidence or hope in God? He strengthens the heart, He is merciful, He lifts our souls. We can trust Him because of His works. His ordinances give us hope. He is our hiding place and shield. Our hope in God gives us gladness.  Let’s see what some bereaved parents say.

First is Sharon Bryant, who lost her son, Andy Dunbar,
when a tree fell on him:

HOPE. I remember back in 1977 when I had none.  I remember when I saw nothing but the existing minute, no tomorrow, no future, nothing. After all these years after losing my precious little boy, I know now that with support, with knowing that you are not alone in this horrendous pain all bereaved parents go through, there is hope. I believe if I can make it all these years and those years that there were no home computers, no support, nothing..and I'm still here, doing the work I do today.....I believe in Hope. My special saying is:

"When a child dies, there is help........there is hope."
Sharon Bryant
www.angelsremembered.tk
In memory of all our children who left this world too soon

Thanks to our God in heaven, I have hope, hope that I will see my daughter, Kate, again; hope that I will continue to be at peace after almost 6 years without her beautiful smile.  I know that God has sent me so many friends and family members to support me through the trying grief journey.  My hope is also that I can give a message of hope to other grieving parents.  I pray that they can look at me and see that God can give us strength to get up each day and go about our earthly chores.  It is in God that our hope comes.  And I praise Him each day for this hope.

A Christian’s hope results in rejoicing. Romans 5:2 says, "We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."  We also hope in eternal life: Titus 1:2, "in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." One of our hopes is for Christ’s return: Titus 2:13, Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." 

The biggest result of our hope is our changed lives. Before I became a Christian, I was an alcoholic with a foul mouth, plus a whole bunch of other things I don’t want to name here. 1 John 3:3 says, "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

When you have this hope, you just can’t keep from telling others. Here is how Clara Hinton does it in her daily e-mail:

How do you begin to fill the hole in your heart that has been left when your child died?

A new year does not end all past pain.  A new year does not make every wrong thing right.  A new year will not restore broken dreams.  But, a new year is just that—new.  It is the marking of an opportunity to begin again.

It takes great courage to look for a miracle when your dreams have been shattered.  Every person alive has a seed of hope planted within the heart that is ready to come alive if given the opportunity.  Look at the new year taking it one day at a time.  With the breaking of each new dawn, claim one new promise of hope.  When you do, your miracle will begin to happen!  --Clara Hinton 

"Every new day has the potential to give you a miracle!"  --Clara Hinton

Clara Hinton, Site Founder/Author, chinton@silentgrief.com

About SilentGrief.com: Visit http://silentgrief.com on the web for articles, daily food, healing thoughts, and chat forums to help encourage you in your healing from the grief of child loss.

My wife, Jerry, ran across a poem entitled DO YOU FEEL THERE IS NO HOPE by Christine Chipman. Because her poem is copyrighted, we decided to track her down and found she lives in Australia. You can reach her at: christinech@dodo.com.au and her website is well worth a visit: http://wordsoflifeandhope.com 

1 Peter 1:3 sums it all up: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Jesus’ resurrection is the proof we need to give us hope of seeing our loved ones again. Have you lost a child to miscarriage? There’s hope of being with them!  Did you lose a child to SIDS? There’s hope of being with them! This hope is our anchor. Christians are God’s heirs and know they have eternal life.

All those who have repented of sin and trusted Jesus as Savior have this hope. This is why it’s so important to raise our children to trust Christ at an early age. I have faith that I’ll meet my unborn son, Kirk Patrick, some day. I believe that I may see my son Jeff, who died at 27 years, again. I believe that I’ll see my first wife Ruth again. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, I have this hope – Do you?

 

~COPING WITH THE HOLIDAYS~

~PUT THIS BEHIND YOU & MOVE ON~

 
 
 
 

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