Surviving Sorrow: Devotions for Parents in MourningExemplo

Do you feel like you started reading this plan so long ago? How could it only be Day 4? Life without your child can feel like forever. Heavy grief days feel like walking in cement shoes while carrying a wet blanket. Life is dragging along in slow motion.

Yet sometimes it seems like your child was just here. A minute ago she was up in her room. An hour ago he was talking to you on the phone. It still doesn’t feel real. You feel certain they’ll be home when you get there. Has it been a month already? 

All our days are now separated in “before” and “after.” Time stands forever divided into very different halves: those with our child . . . and those without. The days when things seemed normal. . .and the days now stretching before us. We don’t want to imagine the rest of our lives. 

We wait for the hope of heaven. We wait for an eternal glory where God will wipe away all our tears. Where there will be no more sorrow, no more pain (Revelation 21:1–7). What shall we do when our days on earth seem to stretch out beyond our ability to cope? Where do we turn when we feel like there is no possible way to hold on for yet another year? 

I turn to those verses in my Bible that remind me human life is less than a drop in the ocean in terms of eternity with God. Dwelling with God in eternal glory is more than my mind can comprehend. So I must consider those things I can wrap my mind around, and try to shift my thinking to an eternal perspective. 

I understand how a shadow passes through the light for a moment. My life is like that short span of time it takes for light to chase away a shadow (Psalm 144:4). 

I know how quickly a person can take one breath. My whole life is just one tiny breath in comparison to eternity in heaven (Psalm 39:5). 

It doesn’t take long for the light and warmth of the sun to dissipate the mist in a morning sunrise (James 4:14). 

In the same way, it won’t be long before I see Austin again. Hugging him tight is just a breath away. Before I know it, I’ll hear him laugh. Freedom from this waiting. Freedom from this pain. Freedom from death and sorrow. All are mere moments away. All our days are nothing when compared with eternity. 

Turn your heart toward heaven, and let eternal glory carry you along another day.