The Art of Mourning

Our friends, the Osborns, are missionaries in Papua New Guinea. Their blog is amazing, filled with incredible stories of living in and adjusting to a completely different culture. In his last post, Joseph wrote about how the custom used to be for the people of PNG to cut off a finger when they were mourning the loss of a loved one. Click here and read more, if you like. The point is, that as ridiculous as that would have seemed to me about six months ago, I fully and completely understand it now.

A little over a week ago, we lost our second baby. And, although this time it doesn't seem nearly as sad as the first, we are changed....again....in a way, I wish I could outwardly display to others I come in contact with. No, I don't want to cut my fingers off, but I wish I could wear the hurt in a visible way. I guess that is why the people of PNG had that gruesome custom...to show other people their loss in a very tangible way.

So, instead of wearing a sign, I am posting it here. Mainly so you know....you know to pray for us....you know that we are grieving and confused....but, most importantly, you know that we are ok. We are trying to keep our lives in perspective of the Gospel of Christ...that we do not deserve a God that died for us, yet by His Grace that is exactly the gift that we were given. Please pray that we keep that in the forefront of our minds. And, pray that Matt and I can find some sort of clarity about the future of our family. It is so hard to figure out how much of this is God trying to steer us in a different direction and how much is the fact that we live in a fallen World. Probably a little bit of both.

I know you've seen this before, but I had to post it again:

What a sweet visual of Christ's love for us and for our little ones!!

"Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear." Oswald Chambers
I am asking for the Lord to put awareness of Himself in me today.