Category Archives: suffering & death
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
A follow-up by Larissa on yesterday’s post: Learning Contentment through Suffering. I want to be like these people when I grow up!
“How are you doing?”
Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my brother Tim’s death. He would have been 60 this year. As many of you know, he took his own life and the impact on all of us who loved him was devastating. What I want to share here is a set of e-mails between me and my spiritual …
“To suffer and to be happy although suffering . . .”
To suffer and to be happy although suffering, to have one’s feet on the earth, to walk on the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father’s right hand, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly to sing the praises of …
“God never wastes His children’s pain.”
For those of you who seem to be suffering fruitless pain, a word from Amy Carmichael: But to what end is pain? I do not clearly know. But I have noticed that when one who has not suffered draws near to one in pain there is rarely much power to help; there is not the …
“Perhaps his sorrow is splendor”
From a profound book, Lament for a Son, written by Nicholas Wolterstorff on the death of his 25-year-old son from a mountaineering accident: It is said of God that no one can behold his face and live. I always thought this meant that no one could see his splendor and live. A friend said perhaps it …
“Our wounds are part of who we are”
Two songs are coming to mind today. One was written by a friend of mine, Kitty Donohoe, on 9-11 which she was later invited to sing at the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial. The name of the song is “There are No Words.” Michael Card in his book, A Sacred Sorrow, talks about the importance …
Darkness is not dark to thee . . .
On Tim’s first anniversary, I was still on crutches (from a broken ankle), but all the sisters in my house drove me up to Tim’s grave. They even brought a folding lawn chair for me to be able to just sit at his grave. I read aloud from Psalm 139: Where can I go from …
Sitting with me
I’ve been thinking about what I found most supportive after my brother, Tim, died. I think of a few things. People who just sat with me, were with me, not saying much, just being there. Like Job’s friends who sat with him in silence–probably the only thing that they did right. People who said something …
Arise, belovèd, come
A very good and dear friend died very unexpectedly from cardiac arrest yesterday. . . . This song we sing keeps going over and over in my mind: “Arise, belovèd, come, For spring adorns the land; The vine in flower will bear sweet fruit; Arise, and take my hand.” The voice of Christ impelled Her …
Responding to Haiti
If you’re like me, you feel heartsick and helpless about Haiti. I found a lot of consolation in this excerpt from a letter of Caryll Houselander’s: It struck me last night that many people are increasing their fear by thinking in crowds, i.e. they think of hundreds and thousands suffering etc., whilst the fact is, God …
