Grief is Holy
photo by Søren Kjeldgaard
In May I sent a small team to Mozambique to gather some stories about how God is at work through Bible translation. I planned the trip over a few months with the director there. One of the stories he suggested the team gather was on the Lyndon family. Since 1996 Chris and Ada Lyndon served among the Koti people of Mozambique. In 2008 they made what they thought would be a short trip back to their home in the UK; however, while they were there, Ada was diagnosed with cancer. She never returned to Mozambique.
We were able to send Chris on his first trip back to the Koti since his wife’s death, along with a writer (Craig) and a photographer (Soren) who went along to hear and document his story. Soren beautifully captured a moment in the picture above from when Chris first arrived in the town where the Koti translation project is–his Mozambican colleagues had clutched him in an embrace. Craig has written a moving article about experiencing a moment of Chris’s grief with him. Find it here.
I was personally moved by Chris’s story because I, along with my family, are part of that exclusive and growing club of people with loved ones with cancer. My father was diagnosed more than 2 years ago with an aggressive brain cancer. The journey is fraught with mountains and valleys. Our grief already ebbs and flows; however, my father is still with us. His time on earth is not yet complete. It’s in these times of pain that I’ve felt the closest and farthest away from God. My emotions can just get more raw, especially about my dad–sadness, joy, anger…everything somehow feels more acute. Sometimes I feel God right with me, and other times I feel like I’m alone. All of this, I think, is just the way our emotions impact how we feel in our relationships at a moment.
For years my dad has been compiling a book of family history starting with what he researched about our first ancestors that arrived in the US. The last few years, he worked tirelessly on compiling all that he could remember of his own experience including detailing some of his most difficult struggles. He ended the book saying that what he discovered throughout his life was that no matter what happened, how you felt, where you were, God is always there. And, I’ll add– everywhere God is, is holy.
Read Craig’s article: The Holy Ground of Grief
How have you experienced God during times of grief?
Popularity: 19% [?]
