Weeping... (and Hope!)

Twenty months have passed since the night of April 20, 2011. Together with Esther and Esteban and Marcos, we face our first Christmas in SC without Jona. The rest of our extended family faces the Christmas Season in Uruguay. At this time last year, we were all together in Uruguay.

But we are very aware that even as we sorrow (but not without hope), many families in the northeast of our country are facing grief beyond words this Christmas...

Others echo my thoughts better than I could ever pen them right now...

“As we yearn for the Day of the Lord, we grieve with those who grieve. We sit with them and pray for them and acknowledge that their loss is truly unspeakable and that their tears are unspeakably true. We pray and look for openings for grace and the hope of the gospel. We do our best to speak words of truth, love, grace, and comfort.”

“The darkness of Christmas, whether the first one or the one this [year], serves as a reminder of why Jesus had to come . . . and why He will come again...”

“This life, with all its joys and blessings, is part of a long story that is – in a very real sense – a story of human pain and sorrow. We long for babies that never come. Children come but die in the womb before we get to meet them. Parents bury children they never planned to bury; and children bury parents with words left unsaid . . . and memories of words that should have never been said. We walk through the children’s cancer ward, where bright colors and happy toys fail to hide the stinging knowledge that here are little people who are very sick. Our hearts – and sometimes our voices – scream to the unanswering sky . . . “Why? Is this what it is to be human? Where is God in all of this?” And in our most honest moments, we admit that we’re tempted to question how there could even be a God who allows such suffering. These questions are not new. And though we will never understand all of the answers in this life, God has told us a lot about why we suffer . . . and about how the long story will finally end.” [Read the whole story: God’s Story – and Yours!]