The Great Healer

On Christmas morning Pastor David recited the fighter verse, "He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:3-4) Verse 4 seemed to some to be pretty inappropriate for Christmas, until he said "because death happens at Christmas too." Oh how this touched me. One of my closest friends miscarried just a few days before Christmas. While the rest of us were rejoicing in a birth, she is mourning a birth that will never happen. My heart hurts for her. My soul aches for her. She lives too far away now for me to comfort her in person, but I wish I could. Death is awful no matter which way you cut it, but the death of a child, even an unborn child is devastating. Death was never meant to be. It is because of sin that death entered the world. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they ruined God's perfect creation. Romans 5:12 says "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned..." We all have sin natures, even precious tiny babies, and so we are all susceptible to death. But God, in His perfect will had a plan to save us from death. Romans 5:18 says "Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men ,so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men." That one act of righteousness was Jesus' death on the cross. He died to take the sin of mankind so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life. John 1:12 says "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God." How amazing is it that all we have to do to receive eternal life is to believe in the name of Jesus? Acts 16:31 says "believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved..." Oh how wonderful to believe in a God who is victorious over death. "He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces..." (Isaiah 25:8) "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) So, take heart my dear friend. Death is not forever. We serve a victorious God. One day there will be no more grieving, no more tears. One day you will be with your precious Noah in heaven. Until then rest in the fact that Jesus holds him in his arms. This pain is temporary. And if just one person reads this and is touched by the Gospel, then Noah's short life and tragic death are not in vain. You are loved, my friend, and prayed for.

If you want to follow her healing process you may visit her blog:
www.learningfromthegreatteacher.blogspot.com
(for some reason I cannot link to it, so you'll have to do it the old fashioned way and type it into your url)