Unsubmissive Remembering

"Yet there is a way of remembering sorrow, which brings no blessing, no enrichment which does not soften the heart, nor add beauty to the life. There is an unsubmissive remembering which brings no joy, which keeps the heart bitter, which shuts out the sunshine, which broods over losses and trials. Only evil can result …

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Sorrow, God’s Plowshare

"When sorrow comes under the power of Divine grace, it works out a manifold ministry in our lives. Sorrow reveals unknown depths in the soul, and unknown capabilities of experience and service. Gay, trifling people are always shallow, and never suspect the little meannesses in their nature. Sorrow is God’s ploughshare that turns up the …

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Joy and Sorrow United

Joined in God – Streams in the Desert 8/19 As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing 2 Cor. 6:10 Sorrow was beautiful, but her beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the wood, and making little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss below.  …

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Though We Mourn, We Must Not Murmur!

by John Angell James (1785—1859), on the death of his wife, from: "Sorrow for the Death of Friends" ...Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21 When a holy and beloved …

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The Help of His Countenance

Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Psalm 42:8 See the cure of sorrow. When the soul rests on itself, it sinks; if it catches hold on the power and promise of God, the head is kept …

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Another Day Closer

It’s not that sorrow wears off, or grieving gets easier.  It’s just that you come to an awareness that sorrow is not getting you anywhere. Slowly, you realize your tears will not bring your child back.  The churning rawness begins to level off, not because the pain is less, but because you become too worn …

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Love Photographs Them in the Heart!

Love photographs them in the heart! (William Thoseby, "Foot-prints on the Sands of Time" 1869) It is true there are strong consolations and compensations in Divine providence, but even the Christian consolations cannot drink up all the heart's sorrow in the hour of separating death.  We cry with truth, but yet in tears, "O death, …

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Joy and Sorrow United

Joined in God – Streams in the Desert 8/19 “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” 2 Cor. 6:10 When Sorrow sang, her notes were like the low sweet call of the nightingale, and in her eyes was the unexpectant gaze of one who has ceased to look for coming gladness.  She could weep in tender sympathy …

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Love Photographs Them in the Heart!

Love photographs them in the heart! (William Thoseby, "Foot-prints on the Sands of Time" 1869) It is true there are strong consolations and compensations in Divine providence, but even the Christian consolations cannot drink up all the heart's sorrow in the hour of separating death.  We cry with truth, but yet in tears, "O death, …

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Revised Post: The Facts

"This heavy sorrow is what I feel.  It is not a reflection of what I, as a Christian, believe.  I know where our son is and  I believe what God has told me about our eternal home.  Why then do I sorrow? It is because each crashing wave of grief is my flesh crying out …

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Joy and Sorrow United

Joined in God – Streams in the Desert 8/19 As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing 2 Cor. 6:10 Sorrow was beautiful, but her beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the wood, and making little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss below.  …

Continue reading Joy and Sorrow United

The Butterfly

Of the many beautiful flowers that were given for Hans’ memorial service, only one is still alive and thriving in our home, an orchid, with its one big showy cluster of purple flowers at the end of a long vine-like stem. After we brought it home from the service, wrapped in plastic to protect it …

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The Facts

In the early months of grieving for our son, sorrow, longing and anguish felt like a connection to him.  They were a sort of conduit, a frantic grasping for nearness.  To remember him was to be with him.  All conscious thought was focused on getting to him – right now.  To weep was to hold …

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