One of the things bereaved parents would like you to know is this: Even though they may seem pretty together and functional; even though they smile, though perhaps not very brightly and not for very long; and even though it seems like they are moving on with life, there are many, many things going on …
Continue reading Book Excerpt: Things Are Not What They Seem
From my book, Never Ceasing: God's Faithfulness in Grief My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. Psalm 55:4,5 This is not happening… The men from our church placed two stout spruce poles across the …
Continue reading In the Arms of My Father: Thoughts on Psalm Fifty-Five
When just a small boy, God saved Hans from the penalty and power of sin, assuring him a place in Heaven based on faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. So, when we say we will see Hans again, our level of assurance is quite high. But what about the parent who does not have …
Bouncing around at the base of the hill, across the river that lay frozen between the fireworks techs and us spectators on the dock, was a light. A flashlight. A very bright flashlight. I saw the stream of light widen and play upon the hillside. Then the beam narrowed into a tightly focused square-shaped beam. …
From my book, Never Ceasing: God's Faithfulness in Grief
Yes, it's normal. We are terrified of forgetting them. Afraid that if we let go of that horrible moment when our child died, that it will be like they didn't exist at all. The pain is tremendous, but early in our grief we can't seem to help wanting to stay right there in the past …
Here is another short excerpt from my book Never Ceasing: God’s Faithfulness in Grief It is the most trying week of my life—physically exhausting, emotionally grueling. I am thankful for everyone who comes to pay their respects and make sure we eat well. I am thankful for every single gift that is sent to us …
Here is another short excerpt from my book Never Ceasing: God's Faithfulness in Grief I start preparing for a trip to the hospital. I put our healthcare ministry card in my purse and also an extra set of keys to Hans’s car in case he has left for the hospital already and has his keys …
Hans drives to the highway, presumably listening to the engine. He travels the last quarter mile of life’s road, planned for him by God before the foundation of the world. He drives his car down the dirt driveway where he learned to walk and to run and to ride a bike. I often wonder what …
Over the course of that day, the day of the crash, Hans drives at least four times over the spot from which he will leave us for Heaven. It was to that very spot, at the end of our driveway, that Hans would cajole me into taking him as a little boy so he could …
Late Saturday afternoon, the boys built a fire on the creek ice out behind our house to burn up branches from the trees they felled that day. As I washed the dishes, I watched them from my kitchen window. I saw Hans sitting alone at the edge of the darkness on a small pile of …
My book, Never Ceasing: God's Faithfulness in Grief, is now available for purchase. Buy Now I began writing in early 2016 just after Hans left us for Heaven and started publishing this blog in September of that year. Just about five years later (almost to the day) my book is now ready to share in …
A fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen "Young woman embracing a thorn bush"Kay Rasmus Nielsen (March 12, 1886 – June 21, 1957)Denmark A mother sat by her little child; she was very sad, for she feared it would die. It was quite pale, and its little eyes were closed, and sometimes it drew a heavy deep …
I am very pleased and thankful that a revised version of my blog post "Four" (originally published October 3, 2016) has been included in the June 2021 “Gardens” issue of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal. It is our first summer without him, an astonishingly beautiful day, and a Sunday, which makes it worse. I step …
You Can Trust Him. 