24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

Today will be a hard day for families and friends of Legacy Christian academy in Andover, Minnesota. Today they will say goodbye to a daughter, a fellow student, and friend.

It's been a difficult week trying to comprehend why a good God would take a life way too soon, or why pain becomes part of the forever 'fabric' of those who knew them?

God truly understands the pain of his sufferers. It was Easter week when his son, Jesus, gave up his life so that all may come into God's presence. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane we read these words from Luke 22:41-47, " He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."

After my daughter passed away unexpectedly in 2007 ( she was also a Legacy student), I too experienced moments where I had dreams with angels comforting me with hope while I quietly suffering and occasionally drowning in my grief. In time, I came to understand my Savior as one who loved me and understood my agony. I realized that God fulfilled the promise laid out in scriptures he would make a way for everyone to know Him when Jesus suffered and died for our sin's on the cross of Calvary and when he rose again from the dead, appeared to many before ascending to the very place that will be rightfully ours one day as we take our final breath.

As we say goodbye to this daughter, sister and fellow student, let us not remember the way she died, but the way she lived her life and who she is now in the presence of Jesus in her new heavenly body surrounded by all of the other saints of heaven, cheering the rest of us on to never give up, to always encourage each other.

Let us also embrace our pain and lean into our Savior and trust Him that he knows how to help us process this unceasing pain that simply won't quit.

This is the moment I encourage everyone to start a grief journal. Write down what you're feeling from day to day, and as you write be open to the teachings of God as he uniquely reveals his love to you. Just as an angel appeared to Jesus in the garden, Jesus will reveal his presence to you through dreams, through angels, through loving and encouraging words from others around you.

In time, the pain will lessen at a timetable unique to you and as you heal from the emotional wounds you will find God using you in the lives of others suffering their own pain from loss.