May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

We all face trials in this life, some of the most difficult are the deaths of a parent, child or spouse or loved one.

James 1:2-4 – Tells us to consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. But when we are talking about the death of a loved one it can be hard to understand or even comprehend that joy.

Someone recently said to me, “I pray to God all the time, but the one thing that is keeping me from committing to Him fully is that I don’t understand how He could take my mom from me”. It’s difficult, but we have to trust Him and remember that He loves that person more than you do.

There are three components to having the kind of joy that lasts through these kind of trials. 1. Romans 8:18 – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. If we keep our eyes on the eternal future that awaits us, we understand that this life is short and so are the sufferings that we endure. 2. Philippians 1:9 – And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Isaiah 41:1 – Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you, help you and uphold you with my righteous right hand. God has promised that He will provide for us (that includes peace and joy) and He reminds us that we have nothing to fear, He will strengthen us and He will never leave nor forsake us. 3. Jeremiah 1:5 – Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Before we were even created in our mother’s womb God knew us. We have to maintain perspective. When a loved one passes and we feel like we want to be angry or upset with God, we have to remember that He was the one who chose to bless us with that loved one in the first place. He handpicked that loved one for you/us. Our flesh wants to say “God, how could you take this person from me!?!” When what we should be saying is “God, I Praise your Holy name that you ever allowed me time with this person at all.” “I didn’t deserve them and thank you that you hand picked them to be in my life.”

None of this means you can’t hurt or cry. In John 11:35 we see that, when Lazarus died, Jesus Himself wept over the pain that Lazarus’ sisters were feeling. Hebrews 4:15 says “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus is sympathetic to our tears. And, Revelation 21:4 tells us that God Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes and in heaven there will be no crying and the fact that there are no tears in Heaven, is yet another reason to have joy!

If we have done our job and shared the Gospel with our loved ones hopefully, before they pass, we will know that they will be in Heaven with us and that is an even greater level of joy.

I have a beautiful sister in Christ whose husband went home to be with the Lord just a few weeks ago and what a picture of peace and joy she is. She deeply loved her husband and misses him terribly. But she knows that this life is fleeting and she knows where he is and that she will see him again. Through this knowledge she, in this Hardest Time to Find Joy, has found joy and peace.

Thank you Lord for your promises. Thank you for your sympathy and thank you for the joy and peace that you avail to us.

I pray that if you are dealing with the loss of a loved one right now, and when you do in the future, that you would lean on and trust our Heavenly Father. I pray that you would have the peace and joy that Jesus offers. And I pray that this peace and joy would be an example to those around you that would glorify God and draw them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray that you would go to our life preserver page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. I pray that the Father would pour out on you, His forgiveness, love, peace and joy. And, if you pray that prayer, please contact me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com so that I can pray for you and help you grow in your knowledge and relationship of Jesus Christ.

Luv Ya!