The Sting of Grief & Easter

I want to love Easter, and in many ways I do. Yet, within this beautiful celebration of God’s great love and sacrifice, there are rattles of deep sorrow.

Yes, this sorrow connects me to the somberness of Good Friday and Christ’s ultimate sacrifice in a real way, and it pushes me to cling to the victory over death even more. Yet, as I do, there is an ache I cannot shake, a heartache that resonates.

Logically, it’s easy to see why; two major losses in my life center around Easter, starting with my mom passing away on Easter Sunday in 1998, and then coming face to face with the reality of my husband's brain tumor the Thursday before Easter in 2019.

I just went back and read my own words from our Journey with Josh blog, as I remembered that it was in fact on Easter weekend when that journey began. We were admitted to the hospital the Thursday before Easter. It was a devastating weekend and the beginning of a short and long journey. We were desperately “trusting God, and praying for wisdom and healing.” 

A few days later, in our first official blog post I referenced, Psalm 20:1,7
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"May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. . . . Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Reading these verses today, they are affirming yet challenging. I still trust in the name of the Lord, but I can't help but wonder if I trust in him with the same amount of hope. Do I trust he can do anything still today? Honestly, I am not always sure. Trusting God is an ongoing process and choice - especially when faced with deep loss, and when grief still stings. 

This Easter weekend, strangely four years since Josh's terminal diagnosis, I found myself reflecting on a familiar Easter script, “O death, where is your sting?” Almost immediately, I want to answer the question rather than declare it as a victory statement. The sting is right here, stabbing me in the heart. It's true, the sting is duller today, but I still feel it, daily.

As I feel death's sting, the roots of hope spring up. I know it is okay to acknowledge the sting; it also good to declare the victory. God took on the sting of death, he knows it. On this Good Friday (and Easter weekend), we turn to our Savior Jesus who offers hope and healing that stretches beyond our grief, sorrow, and circumstances. We give thanks and continue forward because of the victory.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
 Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

If you are navigating grief of any kind this Easter. I hope you will take a step toward trusting God, because he does indeed care for you. This might be the time to honestly share your hurt and heartache with God in a real way! He can take it, and he wants to.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” 
- Psalm 34:18 

Happy Easter 2023 
- Jenn 

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