Our Hurt is Great, but Our Hope is Greater

Thank you all so much for your prayers, your love, your texts, your comments, your emails, your Facebook messages, your phone calls and anything else we have forgotten. Please forgive our delay in responding, but know that your prayers are felt, your comments are read and that we are incredibly grateful.

Amanda is actually doing quite well physically. Baby passed without any extra interventions or hospital revisits. It happened very fast, but that is also helping the healing process. Saturday night, we were in Milwaukee after a wedding reception for our high school friend and his wife. Early Sunday morning, it was evident we needed to go in, and it could not wait until we were back home. We got to the hospital at 7 am, were out by 11 am, boarded a flight at 12:30 pm and arrived home at 2:30 pm still in shock.

We are honored that He would use us to bring this little one to heaven. We have had such peace. A peace that can only come from Him. Our hurt is great, but our hope is greater. We are being drawn to the throne in ways we never could have imagined prior to this. He uses things like this for His glory and our good, and we are confident of that.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. // Hebrews 4:14-16

We are experiencing the body of Christ in a truly amazing way. The Lord had a perfect design in it, and we are not meant to live alone. Our joys and our sorrows are meant to be shared, and it is incredible and beautiful what the Lord does when we allow others to share in our walk. We are seeing Him move in ways that we never could have before.

So a million times THANK YOU.

Thank you for covering us in prayer.

Thank you for sharing in our joy and in our grief.

Thank you for the passages and promises of Scripture.

Thank you for the support and encouragement.

Thank you for sharing your personal stories of heartache and grief.

We know that we are not alone in this journey and pray that you also may feel and know the deep, deep love of Jesus.

Oh The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To your glorious rest above

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross He bore
How He watches o'er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He's interceding
Pleading now before the throne

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Far surpassing all the rest
It's an ocean full of blessing
In the midst of every test
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Mighty Savior, precious Friend
You will bring us home to glory
Where Your love will never end