Five years ago we said hello and goodbye to our first daughter, Brianna. Her name means “strong” and “she ascends” and I still think it’s fitting for the fight she gave here on this earth and the way she quietly left it. Today we went to visit her grave and eat cupcakes at the local bakery, as we do every year. As I watched Audrey and Emily simultaneously lick the frosting off their cupcakes, I imagine that Brianna would have done it the same way.
Brianna was deeply loved and cherished, even though our time with her was so short, and we are still blessed by friends and family who remember her with us.
As I mourn the painful effects of this fallen world and what might have been, I cling to Christ who has given me a new appreciation for life, who has blessed me with daughters twice after Brianna, who has awakened in me a yearning for heaven, who has given me peace and joy after sorrow, and who has ultimately triumphed over the grave.
Brianna’s birth and death was the hardest time of my life, no question. But I do have hope that God has a purpose and that he will work it out for good. I have hope in the promise of heaven and in the Lord of Life “who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die.”
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