Mother's day can be a especially troubling time when the child they once had is no longer there.

“For in grief nothing "stays put." One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral?
But if a spiral, am I going up or down it?
How often -- will it be for always? -- how often will the vast emptiness astonish me like a complete novelty and make me say, "I never realized my loss till this moment"? The same leg is cut off time after time.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed


As I was attempting to sleep, I lamented for the mom's and dad's out there who are in pain for the loss of their child. A child who isn't able to send them a mother's day card, or offer a sweet hug, or a simple "I love you" to them.

I'm aware that on my facebook page are mom's and dads who find themselves at a loss wishing they had many more special occasions to spend with their child. Every day,  this club grows- something most who haven't experience this type of loss does not understand.

 Loss comes in many packages from the young married woman who miscarriages to experiencing the death of their chronically ill child to sudden death caused by an accident.  Though the pain of such a loss is intense, though there are few who know what to say to those experiencing such a loss, and though our world grows really small to a few who truly get it, I'm reminded by my own grief that God does love us and shows us in the little miracle moments of our lives that He truly does care.

One quote I remember from Grief share is this one: "The intensity of one's grief is the reflection of the love they had for the person that died."   The other lesson I learned from this loss is that it teaches us how small we really are in this universe and how much we need God to sojourn with us when the loss occurs. It also teaches me how important God's word and assembling together with others on the Sabbath means to me.

If you are missing a loved one and find it hard to 'survive' these holidays without them, I encourage you to find a grief share group near you. This is a group that will teach you how to go through the pain, not around it. https://griefshare.org

Finally, if you are in pain, just know that you are loved by God who wants you to continue placing one foot in front of the other, going forward trusting that God knows how to process your pain.