April 1, 2010

Grieving a Loss

My eyes are still swollen from the tears that began on Monday evening when we lost our sweet Sydney to pneumonia brought on by a bacterial infection.  A family is never prepared for the loss of a pet, and we have been no exception.  It has been a hard week.  We do have another dog, and she is just as confused as we are.  Sydney was her best friend and playmate.

grief:  emotional suffering caused
by the loss of a love one.

As we have sifted through our emotions this week, God has been evident.  (Yes, I believe God is in the little things.  Sydney, after all, was his creation, by his design, and he grieves her passing as well.)  As we worried over how our 10 year old K would handle this news, we began to pray for her throughout the evening.  She feels things very deeply and we knew she would be the most affected of our children.  My husband and I had prepared ourselves that if they were too upset in the morning, we would allow them to stay home from school.  This was the reaction we expected.  But God went before us and brought peace to their hearts upon hearing the news and they both went to school.  I couldn't believe God's peace was covering them so completely.

That evening, K was doing her devotions and brought her bible downstairs to me.  She had mentioned she had gotten behind and missed several.  But as she opened her bible on this night, she was presented with a devotion entitled "When Bad Things Happen" and the story of Job and all that he had lost, but remained solidly faithful to his God.  K couldn't believe her eyes.  She turned to the next devotion and it was entitled "Just Being There Helps", which reassured her that hanging out with her family was sometimes the best medicine when you were feeling sad.  Did God stop here with the lessons he had prepared for K?  No!  The next devotion was entitled "It's OK to Cry". 

I don't know why I am continuously surprised by God.  I shouldn't be.  He knows me and my family better than we know ourselves.  He knew what we needed this week as we said goodbye to our sweet girl, and He provided.  THAT is awesome!


2 comments:

  1. I think when we stop being surprised by God is when we get to heaven. No, even there I think He'll surprise us because He just has this enormous love for us.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so sweet the way God spoke to your daughter. I remember losing our dog when I was 18 and how sad it was. A good friend comforted the 4 of us kids, because our dad was away and mom needed help, with the verse about weeping lasting for the "night" but joy coming in the morning.

    Glad your kids have been carried through this. Praying joy would find you soon.

    ReplyDelete

I am so glad you that you stopped by today! What's on your mind?

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...