There are times when your entire world is turned upside down. Times when the pain is unbearable and the future seems unfathomable. When God did not answer your prayer and you wonder if he even heard your cries. Events that change your life forever. The things that make tomorrow an impossible dream. And one of the worst of these is the death of a child. It does not seem to matter if they die in the womb or as adults in an accident. Death strikes at any age. And parents have to bury children.

Nothing will ever be the same. Questions fill your every waking hour.

How will I ever go on?

How can I face tomorrow... and the day after that... and the day after that?

Why did my child die?

Why are other children spared?

Where was God? Where is my child?

What did I do to deserve this?

So many questions and so few answers. Having dealt with far too many families in situations like this, I have learned that I do not have the wisdom to give answers.

But I do think I know where there is an answer. God speaks into our lives through a story in the Bible. It is the story of when King David and Bathsheba lost their infant child. David fasted, prayed, and pleaded with God to heal his sick child. Probably begging God not to hold his sin of adultery against the child. But the baby died. So David got up, cleaned up, and ate. He went on with life. When asked how that was possible, he said that the baby was not coming back to him... but that he could go to where his child was.

So here are three things that are certain.

  1. You are not the only one to experience this. It is a world where death happens and evil exists. God does not always do what we want. I do not know why because I am not God. And that is a good thing because there has to be someone bigger and stronger than me in control. So God’s people choose to believe in spite of the pain.
  2. Life goes on. You may want it to stop. You may even wish that it would, but it will not. So those of us in God’s family keep on living. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time... because we believe.
  3. This situation is not the end. Christians know that we will see our children again. Death is not the end. It is only final for the short time we are on this earth. It is not final forever.

So if you have wondered where answers are when there seem to be no answers... listen to God. If you want to live through the darkest night imaginable... hold on to faith in God. If you want to live forever with your children... believe in Jesus.

I can help you believe. Write to me at steve@hopeforlife.org or visit our HopeForLife.org website.

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Are you presently experiencing a new life? God's word says, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

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