The Hope We Have - The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional

The Hope We Have

You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

John 16:22

“How did you feel when you lost the baby?” My sister’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

I paused, trying to collect my thoughts and the breath that had just left my lungs in a rush. She had just experienced her own loss, and I knew she was hurting. “I was heartbroken,” I said, feeling the pain all over again. “Even though we still had Elise, I grieved that baby.”

It was soon after experiencing the joy of finding out that I was pregnant with our first child that I had complications and had to race over to the emergency room with Tim. After a few tests and a couple of clinic visits, we found out that I had actually been pregnant with twins, and I had miscarried one of them. Even though I knew this was “common,” it certainly didn’t feel commonplace to me.

The next week, I was visiting with a family friend who knew about our loss. Squeezing my hand, she said, “Now your sister has someone to watch over.” Tears pricking my eyes, I thanked her and smiled, feeling comforted by the thought. My sister had died several years earlier, but the thought of her watching over my little one in heaven brought me profound comfort. I’m not sure whether that’s true of heaven or not, but I took comfort in the underlying premise that this life is not the end for believers. The woman’s kind words—her recognition of both my sorrow and the hope that we have of seeing loved ones again someday—felt like a balm.

Years later, as I searched for something to say to comfort my other sister in her own loss, I remembered this experience of receiving comfort and felt the desire to pour it back out to her. I recalled the Lord’s words: “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.” These words contain a hope and a promise, one we as Christians can cling to even amid the storms of grief that come our way in this life.

—Kristin

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Find a way to encourage someone who has recently experienced loss.