Nobody is ever prepared for a sudden death. We can say all we want that you never know if you’ll be here tomorrow, but let’s be real.I have a to do list sitting on my desk that I fully expect to work on tomorrow. In my head, I know you can be gone in a blink, but I’m still not really prepared to deal with tragedy landing on my doorstep tomorrow – never mind tonight!
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A few days ago, a family from my church lost a family member. He was only 26 years old – a life cut tragically short. It was completely unexpected. In a moment, a son, a nephew, a grandson, a brother was lost.
A family is left flailing in the sudden void of loss. When I heard, my heart broke for them, especially as this loss comes so closely on the heels of another. The mother of this young man, lost her own mother at the end of September. I wrote about her passing here.
I wish I could say why tragedies like this happen.
I wish I could explain the greater, eternal purpose for this.
I wish I could build a bridge for this family over the deep valley of grief before them, instead of them having to go through it. But if I’ve learned anything in the six months since I found out my brother died, it’s that grief is not something you can go around. It’s something you have to walk through.
Instead, the only thing I can offer is the hope and promise that Jesus is enough to get you through this.
I will hold out, with trembling hand, the hope of what I now know down deep in my soul – God’s love for us is not abstract or distant. It is tender and personal and reaches down to where we are, no matter how deep the valley in which we find ourselves.
My prayer for this precious family is this: that the God of all comfort who met me in my deepest moments of sorrow, who held me up when I didn’t think I’d ever be able to stand again, will sustain them. I will pray that in the awful ashes of their grief, they will experience the beauty of God’s presence.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessings, Rosanne
2 Comments on When the Unthinkable Happens
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You continue to amaze me and make me proud as I read your beautifully written words, Rosanne. Our God truly is the God of ALL comfort. How would we be able to go on without Him! Praying for the family.
Thanks, Sandy for your kind words. The idea that any little bit of the pain I have gone through could help someone else, gives me a lot of comfort. It’s so cool how God does that for us – takes the ashes and makes something that should be horrible into something of worth.