Our little Sarah, all bundled up |
Daddy's little girl |
I believe in God. I have always believed in God. But before Sarah my faith in God was more intellectual, more spiritual. But Sarah made the love of God tangible. Rather than an abstract thought -- something that made me feel good inside -- the love of God become something real to me, something I could directly interact with. It was given to me and washed over me during the hardest time of my life.
At Sarah's funeral I described it like this: It was like being thrown into the darkest abyss, only to find myself standing on solid ground. There is no other way for me to describe it -- something was there. It was not something I earned. It was given to me as a gift.
Saying goodbye, for now |
At the funeral |
Throughout my experience with Sarah I had a scripture in my mind, which I think better describes what we can expect from a spiritual life, from a life committed to following Christ. It is found in the beautiful Psalm 23:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
Goodness. Mercy. That is our promise and our inheritance. During Sarah's four days on this earth there was so much goodness, so much mercy, that we hardly had room enough to receive it. Sarah herself was the epitome of Goodness and Mercy. She was Goodness and Mercy packaged up in an imperfect body, sent to show us God's love.
Many more challenges await me in my future life, I am sure of that. But I am confident that goodness and mercy will follow me, all the days of my life. And someday I will dwell, with my daughter Sarah, in the house of my Lord, forever.
Beautiful! I just loved that. Do I have permission to use that in a lesson sometime?
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