When Heaven Calls Your Child Home
I gave birth to our fifth child, Emily Kate, right after I turned thirty-nine. My husband and I were pretty sure five was our final number. About two weeks after Emily was born, my Dad turned seventy, and we had a big family celebration for him. I remember sitting at the party (granted..I was probably still hormonal from childbirth) but I just felt like we were at the top of the mountain in that moment. My family was all around me, my parents were both still alive and with us, but I recognized that we would not be staying at the top forever. That we were all aging and my parents were entering the “sunset” years and that this sweet moment could not last forever. And I had a hard time with that fact…is this what life is all about? I’m a Christian, and I believe in Heaven, but at that moment, my Heaven was on Earth and the reality that it could not stay that way really shook me.
About six weeks later, our two year old daughter Abby had a pool accident. She was life-flighted to a hospital in Baton Rouge, and after looking like she was going to make a beautiful recovery, she had a stroke and died on September 11, 2016. I know this is a bomb to drop in my story, and there are so many details to that event that I could write a book about it. But my point for right now is to say that I received a crash course in having my “Heaven” shift from here on Earth to eternity.
Before her accident, my timeline really only included events here on Earth, but suddenly the timeline for my family, if I wanted it to include Abby, had to extend all the way to eternity. And to be honest, that difficult transition has been a huge blessing in my life, one that I would never ask for but a blessing all the same.
My husband always talks about the Matrix, but it truly is like my perspective has been able to shift and I can see the purpose of our time here more clearly, and I can see the absolute rest, peace, joy, hope, and restoration that eternity offers with a just, loving ruler.
When Abby died, the only consolation people could really offer was that she was in Heaven. And I had to ask myself, what does that mean? What does it mean for our future as a mother and daughter? So much of our role as a parent of littles is to be physically present with them: to hold them, feed them, hug them, and take care of them. It was so difficult to define my relationship with Abby when I could not do those things.
But through my journey, the Lord led me to an incredible, Biblical book called, “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn where I learned truth about what our future holds in Heaven. It’s interesting because many of the cliche sayings or thoughts people had about Heaven regarding Abby often upset me, but every piece of Scripture that I read about the resurrection and our future brought peace and hope to my weary soul.
If you find yourself in a season of grief or loss, trust that God will use it to loosen your grip from this temporary life, and let it prepare you for eternity. Although the perspective shift has been painful, it has been full of fruit and hope.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-1
From Another Mother,
Rhonda