Breathing Hope
I recently met a woman named Marlene, and listened as she shared her story of hurt, hope and healing.
It takes trust to dedicate someone you love to God.
As Marlene sat with her dying daughter, she knew, that God could raise her up from the hospital bed. She remembered the day she dedicated Amanda to God as a baby. She told me it felt like it could have been yesterday. It takes trust to dedicate someone you love to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your life to God.
Marlene was a teacher at Wee College, a program that introduces children to the Good News, that they can have a real and lasting relationship with God Himself, forever. Marlene had already prayed, and she was surprised by Amanda’s request to pray again. Amanda looked up at her teaching mama and said she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. The Gospel is for children and adults, the sick and healthy, the affluent and poor, the happy and mourning, every culture, era and population. Amanda grasped it and held it, received it and lived it. It took trust to give her life to Jesus, the trust of a child. It takes trust to dedicate your life to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your story to God.
Marlene had grown up in a Christian home and often felt like she had no story. As the years continued, Marlene became deeply aware of God’s mercy, goodness and faithfulness (the kind that can carry a mama through a nightmare). She told me that to lose a child changes your life forever, and the pain really cannot be understood unless a person experiences it. She affirmed she would wish it on no one, but can say with confidence that God has been faithful through it all. It wasn’t the accident that gave Marlene’s story validity, it was the power of God at work in her life, that gave her life power and strength for others to draw from. It takes trust to dedicate your story to God.
It takes trust to dedicate this moment to God.
Amanda was on her way home from a celebratory meal with friends at Rocky Mountain House and her vehicle was hit by an oncoming van. Two of her friends died at the scene. A Christian paramedic arrived to see Amanda take a breath – and Amanda was air lifted to the nearest hospital where Marlene would meet her for the last time. The decision was made the next night to take Amanda off of life support and she passed away at the Calgary hospital on September 4, 2004. As Marlene dedicated her daughter to God for the second time, she told me she believed Amanda could be raised in a moment, but Marlene submitted her prayers to God’s will. She trusted. She dedicated. Amanda died. It takes trust to dedicate this moment to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your future to God.
Amanda had received many gifts for her recent high school graduation, including luggage. No one could have imagined that her next home would be Heaven. Amanda had crafted many handmade thank-you cards to give those who had given her gifts. She left each person with a tangible expression of her love that would be felt on earth, even after she walked through the Gates of Heaven. Amanda had also painted a beautiful representation of the Nativity that has hung at Christmas celebrations since her passing, as sign posts that point the entire world to Love Himself. When we practice small acts of love, we dedicate our future to God too, knowing that we are leaving the fingerprints of Jesus behind us. It takes trust to dedicate your future to God.
It takes trust to hurt and hope.
Marlene says God did raise Amanda, to a place far greater than we can fathom. She has chosen to let her hope in Jesus mix with the hurt of losing a child. Pain and loss can send people in one of two directions: towards God or away from Him. By choosing to trust Him with her hurt, Marlene has been able to experience and give supernatural hope. She has spoken about her journey of grief at high schools and ministry groups, with the sure understanding that hurting and hope can be experienced together – to bring healing. It takes trust to hurt and hope.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus took His final breath… It Is Finished.
The paramedic at the scene watched Amanda breathe too.
And Victory overcame death.
And Amanda is healed.
The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach. It means “air in motion”. It is the same word for “breath” and it also means “life”. After Jesus rose from the dead, He said, “But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.” – John 16:7 CEV
The Spirit gives Marlene breath to declare her trust, because none of us can do it on our own – it is not humanly possible. But with God, all things are possible.
It takes trust to dedicate someone you love to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your life to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your story to God.
It takes trust to dedicate this moment to God.
It takes trust to dedicate your future to God.
It takes trust to hurt and hope.
Father, would your Spirit provide us breath to trust.
And enters the places of our hurt,
With breathing hope,
So healing can happen?
Amen.
