How do you move forward after a life-changing loss? Many of us have asked that question. Not sure if we have the answer. But life isn’t waiting and it’s felt like it’s been coming at us fast. At times that has felt cruel. At other times it’s a comfort that there is directionality to grief as we journey with the the Lord through it. Ministry has taken a bit of a backseat with everything that has happened with my mom, her memorial, and taking Morgan to college. We have taken a couple of weeks of bereavement leave and some vacation to allow room for grief and transition. But we wanted to provide a snapshot of what’s been meaningful to us as we know you and many have been praying.
Since my mom passed, we’ve had regular times together with the rest of the family to grieve, process, and just be together. I’d not thought about it, but our family has a lot of spiritual, emotional, and ministry training with all the pastors, counselors, and missionaries. I think it’s been helpful.
We’ve had heartbreaking benchmarks. My dad’s birthday was a week after my mom’s passing and their 51st anniversary was a week after her memorial. It’s made it harder maybe in some ways, but it’s also been good to be together in those moments.
Morgan’s All-Cousin Sleep-Over
One of the things Morgan wanted to do as the oldest cousin before she left for college to honor her Nana was to organize a cousin’s sleepover with all of them like my mom would. They are mostly girls so a lot of nail polish as you can see! This was special to watch. It was the night or two before the memorial so Morgan ended up helping some of the cousins prepare for their sharing at the memorial service (in which they all did amazing).
As you can see, there have been some great and meaningful moments even though grief has been our companion in all of them. We are spent. Our family went from my mom’s stroke/ICU stay to a somewhat traumatic car accident to my mom’s passing and memorial to sending our first child off to college all in the last couple of months. We’re crashing a bit now that everyone is in school. In one of the books I’ve read since my mom passed, I came across the phrase, “Your tears are His tools.” It speaks to God’s sovereign work as He draws near to the brokenhearted, to those who grieve and cry out to Him. It’s a great comfort when we can sense God at work even if we do not understand all the “whys.” Regardless of what makes sense or doesn’t, we are so thankful for how God keeps reminding us that He is with us, loves us beyond what we can comprehend, and that He is at work for more than we can possibly imagine.
Thank you for praying and journeying with us in this season!
In Christ,
Brian & Christine