Today we wanted our children to join us in remembering our littlest one’s life. We took them to lunch at one of our favorite places and processed together about losing the baby. My children and I are so blessed that God gave us my husband. He is so thoughtful, attentive, intuitive, and able to articulate what the Bible says about whatever we are going through. We had such a good conversation about how grateful we are that we don’t mourn as those who have no hope.
Our hope is Jesus.
He came to earth because of God, the Father’s unending love for us. He lived a perfect life and died in our stead. He died to pay for the wrong things we think, say, and do that separate us from God, the Father. Then the best part is He raised from the dead 3 days later proving He is victorious over sin, victorious over death. Our Savior, our Rescuer defeated death and that means, if we believe, we’ll be with Him and our loved ones for eternity. When He comes again, all that we dread will be defeated completely, even death.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21: 4
At lunch we talked about how, though we are sad that a member of our family isn’t with us, we are so grateful that we will see that child and sibling when we are with Jesus. We don’t know how old that child will be or what the circumstances will be for our family, but we are all looking forward to being a complete family when the right time comes.
We usually come back to the reality that our littlest one never had to feel pain in this life and just got to go be with Jesus right away. This gives us peace.
As we were enjoying our meal, I glanced up and realized that we had one extra chair at our table. The empty chair. And our son had placed his kid’s menu at that place. Though we don’t set an extra place at the dinner table each night, it was the perfect time to have that empty chair as a reminder that our family isn’t complete, yet. I’m hoping there will be spouses and grandchildren who fill chairs in our future. But there will always be one empty chair only to be filled with that special, sweet littlest one when the time is right.
My Prayer for you:
My prayer for you is that you will remember the good things and blessings when you are remembering your loss.
A Prayer you Could Pray:
Dear Jesus, though only one person can fill that empty chair in our family, thank You for the chairs You have already filled and will continue to fill. Thank You for Your blessings and for the things I don’t understand, yet. Thank You for Your mercy. In Your Name, Amen
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope… Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 18
Things to Ponder, Pray and Journal:
- What are you thankful about that you DO have even in the midst of this loss?
- What questions do you have for God about the empty chair?
- Who is someone in your life who needs to be reminded of the hope they have (or can have) in Christ?
3 You Can See 