And these three things remain: Faith, Hope and Love
I imagine that many of you reading to this point are asking, “but what if God does not heal me or my loved one? What does that mean?” First, I want to acknowledge that I do not have all the answers-no one does. The bible tells us that God’s ways are higher than ours. While prayer and faith critically are important, ultimately there is no threshold of prayer or faith that can supersede God’s ways. The hardest and longest I have ever prayed in my life was the overnight during the last hours of my nephew’s, Elijah’s life. After a night long of praying, pleading, and begging God to spare Elijah, I received the phone call from my dad say, “We lost him.”
Heartbroken my prayers for God to heal my nephew turned into prayers of trying to understand. I quickly concluded that there was no reason God could give me to justify losing my nephew. My heart became numb. I was profoundly disappointed in and even somewhat angry with God for not answering my prayers. If you are angry with God, know that God understands, and ask His help to guide you through your feelings. If you are feeling guilt, know that sometimes there is simply nothing you can do, such as having prayed harder or longer.
These feelings would increase every time I saw someone with a baby of a sonogram image from a pregnant woman. Why would God bless these families and allow mine to go through so much pain? When I was reunited with my family for the funeral, I asked my dad this question. In his wisdom, he reminded me that we only know three things: Elijah is with Jesus, Jesus loves Elijah, and Jesus loves us. While I still did not have a precise justification, these three truths made it easier for me.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, your future is Heaven, no illness, injury, person or feeling can take that away. That is also true for any loved one you have lost. Jesus loved you enough to go to the cross for you, so could we doubt his love for us.
While Elijah was the most significant loss in my life, I have lost other friends, some to the same cancer I’m fighting-a young man and new father named Daniel, a mentor and father of three named Greg, to name a few. I know their families had these same questions, but a common thread in all our stories is that because our loved ones believed in Jesus, we know that they are in Heaven and that we will see them again. Scripture tells us that we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Here the hope is not so much a longing or wishful thinking. Instead Hope represents the promise we have that God will join us with Jesus in Heaven if we believe in him. In the past, I have heard this referred to as a “know-so-hope.”
When I was diagnosed with terminal glioblastoma, questions surfaced again, why me? Would God heal me? How long will I have? How will my family make it without me? I was encouraged when a young man named JJ Hanson reached out to me. JJ was a Marine Corp Veteran and married with a one-year-old son and only 33 years old when he was first diagnosed with glioblastoma. I have never met anyone more determined to live. When I spoke with JJ, I was not only impressed by his determination, but his faith. He told me that he believed God would heal him, but if God didn’t then God would use it for something greater-I was stunned. His faith increased mine. About a year after our conversation, JJ did go to be with Jesus, but only after he helped many people suffering from GBM, including me.
Years later, I am reminded of God’s promise that when all else is gone we still have Faith-in knowing God never leaves us; Hope-we know that those of us, who believe in Jesus will join him in eternity whenever he calls us home; and Love-in knowing that he loves us so much that he went to the cross for us.
In the next devotional, we will consider the hope that we can still have when we are not confident that our loved ones believed in Jesus.
For Additional Study & Discussion
1. As painful as it may be, can you recall the greatest loss of a loved one you have had? What feelings did you have? Have you been able to reconcile those feelings with God, how so?
2. What can you do to keep Faith, Hope and Love alive in your life?
3. Describe how you believe you will feel when you are reunited with your loved one(s) in Heaven.