Job 3:6 “Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months.”
Oh how the book of Job speaks truthfully of the pain and struggle of life. July 2,1997 is forever a day I will never forget. It was the day my daughter Katie was received into the arms of the Lord. At the beginning of this trial, I counted the hours of my daughter’s absence. Then came the days. I remember waking up the first morning realizing nothing would ever be the same. Job 3:25, what I had always feared, happened to me. What I had dreaded, had come true. Isn’t that always a parent’s worst fear, to have a child die? Then came the first month. Opening my eyes on that first month, wondering how I have lived a whole month without my daughter. How can I live the rest of my life in this much pain? Job 6:11-13 Job cries out, “I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for. Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze? No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.”
Soon those hours, days and months turned into a year. My daughter’s death had not destroyed me yet. I was still holding on to the God of comfort. Job 23:10-11, Job writes He knows where I am going and when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. Soon my year turned into two and then five and ten. I have now walked through 25 years of walking through July 2,1997. He has been so faithful to me through my 25 and a half years. If you are early in your walk keep on keeping on. It is a long and hard road but I promise you, it is a road worth traveling. That day, July 2 1997, is a day that cannot be blotted off the calendar. It is a day that happened. It is a day that changed me and my life forever. Every year that day greets me with a heart full of gratitude. I am grateful for having Katie in my life for seventeen years. It goes without saying that I would have loved to have had her longer than I did. One day I will see her again. There will be no calendar or counted days. Just forever
You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You’re the only one who can.
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You’re the only one who can.
Graves into Gardens Brandon Lake
– Michele
