Loss: Encouragement After Losing a Loved One to AddictionSample

Today’s encouragement for hope in the face of loss is written by Rhonda Kemp, who lost her only daughter Lacy to substance use disorder in 2014.

“BE IN AGREEMENT WITH ME.”

What was God saying? How could it be possible that the Creator of the Universe was talking just to me? My Lord was there, holding me in His arms. Was this my answer to so many thousands of prayers? Was this how Lacy's story ended?

Just as it says in today’s passage Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

The Lord was nearer than near to me on this Thursday morning, the most terrible day I had ever experienced. My Savior heard my cry, even when I wasn’t consciously asking Him for His help.

In utter disbelief, I heard God’s quiet but undeniable voice that repeated several times the words that would usher me into acceptance years later. God was giving me a strong and very clear statement as I stood outside my daughters’ apartment. His five words were:

“BE IN AGREEMENT WITH ME.”

”BE IN AGREEMENT WITH ME.”

The phrase repeated and stayed with me that day and most every day since. I was there alone, waiting for other family members to join me—Lacy had already passed away several hours earlier—and I had a strange sense of peace come over me just as John speaks of in chapter 14, verse 27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

I knew that God loved Lacy even more than I did and that she belonged to Him first. Now she was home with Him, and I needed to “be in agreement” with Him, just as His loving message said.

This would be the first of many signs to me that Lacy was where she was supposed to be.

I believe God knew I needed these messages, these little “God winks”—especially this first one from Him—to survive my life without Lacy in it. Standing outside that apartment, knowing I would never see her alive again on this earth. It just couldn’t be real that my beautiful 30-year-old daughter had died. She was everything I had hoped for in a daughter: gifted with a beautiful heart and full of love for her family. She was my closest friend.

I’ve learned through my grief that Lacy is my future, not my past. She went before me, and we will be reunited in heaven for eternity. I will have my redeeming moments with her, the ones I ache for now. In the meantime, I will try to use this life to honor the Lord with all He has given me. When you need a special God wink, just look up and keep your eyes on Him. He will bring it to you.