Stuck in Saturday
July 29
I tell you the truth … you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
John 16:20
Penny lay awake, the heartache tonight not much less than a year ago. She hadn’t slept much since Richard had died.
Married only six months, Richard had died when his car skidded on a patch of ice. The vehicle had gone over the guardrail above a deep gorge, rolling several times before coming to rest at the bottom. It had been several hours before he was found, and it had taken several more to remove him from the wreckage; he’d lived for two days before succumbing to his injuries.
Penny was numb, yet her brain never shut down. She rarely went a full ten minutes without it all playing back in her mind: the scene at the trauma center, the two days in ICU, the funeral, and the emptiness. It seemed her life was stuck on replay.
Penny cried out to God for answers, answers that probably wouldn’t relieve the ache or make this any easier.
Family and friends felt she was stuck in her grief. They continued to minister to her in love, praying that her outlook would brighten, bringing this profound grief to an end.
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Anyone who has lost a loved one or a friend knows the depth of Penny’s heartache. Their absence creates a hole in us that refuses to be refilled; we’ve lost someone so precious that to think otherwise would feel like betrayal.
Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, did what He could to reassure His disciples of His resurrection. But on Good Friday nothing could take away the sting, the shock, or the pain in their chests. And all day Saturday they tried unsuccessfully to console themselves.
Then came Sunday!
The truth is if we live long enough, we will experience Penny’s pain. If we love deeply, we will grieve the same way. But someday our grief will turn to joy. It’s Jesus’ resurrection that keeps us from getting stuck in Saturday.
Death came on Friday, resurrection on Sunday, but there was a very long day in between. It’s okay to grieve. But do it with hope.
Prayer
“Give us strength to walk on in the pain, Lord. Thank You that, because of Jesus, this pain will turn to joy. Amen.”
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