By “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18 ESV)
It has been nearly two weeks since the death of Mercy. Karie’s body is recovering as good as could be expected. If you remember in a post a week ago, she was in great amounts of pain because her chest longed to nurse our baby. This pain has now almost all gone away. She has been able to move from sleeping in her recliner to sleeping in bed now for about five days and is so very thankful to lay horizontal. Her strength is also increasing daily. She has been able to be on her feet for long amounts of time now. Naps have been a need for her still. Karie told me she napped for 1-1/2 hours yesterday afternoon. Ufta; can you imagine?
Internally we are all healing as well, yet at different rates. Elsa and Karie had a nice cry together yesterday after Elsa woke from her nap saying how much she missed “baby Mercy.” Karie told her that Mercy was probably playing with Justus much like Elsa plays with her big brother Sammy now. This brought more tears to both of them. Sammy doesn’t speak much about Mercy, at least not to my knowledge anyway. He is a single minded boy like his dad, and mostly deals with the life moment by moment. Ali and Rylee seem to be moving on and seldom speak about her anymore. They have been busy getting back into the routine of school and daily tasks. Ali has been somewhat motivated to double up on some of her lessons to try and get ahead. We welcome the extra effort and believe God will bless it. Karie has most definitely been smiling more and crying less. She told me yesterday that her day was “teary,” yet not like it was. There have been times when her eyes would remain glossy and swollen all day from the constant tears. Her eyes are now clear, rested, and focused. She aches to hold her baby girl, yet seems able to wait till heaven for this blessing. This week for me has been good. My mind is able to focus on my job and have been busy getting back into the thick of HVAC service work. Last night I presented the students in youth group with their new ESV Student Study Bibles. None of the kids had ever spent time in a study Bible before so it was very fun for me to show then the ropes of cross-referencing, study notes, concordance, and general navigation around their new swords. As a church, we are moving away from the NIV and into the ESV. It may have been more exciting for me than for them.
Thank you so very much for you past and present prayers for our family. We have been so blessed by the outpouring of grace we have received throughout this trial. Keep your eyes on Jesus today, the author and finisher of your faith. He will not leave you as orphans.
Leading Family Devotions 