Things change over time.

People do too.

Some things, though, are as certain as the rising of the sun.

We can change the topic, look the other way, or live in denial;

but it doesn’t change the fact that one day we will each face death.

Some will have months to ponder it while others will face it in the blink of an eye.

Tim and I have experienced both as parents.

We have experienced the heart-wrenching horror of waking to find that while we slept our daughter slipped away.

In one night, our life was changed forever.

A closet full of frilly dresses and bonnets became a painful reminder of what we once held in our arms.

It took years to recover from this heartache.

We have also experienced the agony of watching cancer destroy our youngest son’s body.

Falling to sleep every night not knowing what tomorrow would hold became the new normal at our home for months, and we held on to each other as much as we held on to God.

I’ll never be able to say which death was worse.

I’ll never be able to put into words how grief is different in both cases, but I can say this with all the certainty of my mind and soul.

I would be in bed every single day if it weren’t for Jesus.

I would give up on life.

I would quit.

I would choose anger and bitterness and self-pity if it weren’t for that moment in history when Jesus did something no one else has ever been able to do.

He rolled the stone away and conquered death once and for all.

He claimed victory over the grave and promised more.

He took away the sting and brought Hope……………Hope that does not disappoint.

So if you’re wondering why Jesus matters and why I believe there is power in His name,

this is why.

Yes, He took on the sins of all mankind and I am thankful.

But for me, a grieving mom, He did so much more.

He gave me a reason to keep smiling.

He gave me a reason to keep pressing on.

His resurrection makes every day of my life still matter even when my heart aches.

Jesus matters.

He is the way, the truth, and the LIFE.

And I am thankful every single day.

I Cor. 15:50-58

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God!

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.