From Grief to Grace

The 4th March is always an interesting day for me. I wish Chris Spence for his birthday and then I am reminded that (for me anyway) Chris is actually a twin: our daughter would have celebrated her 24th birthday with him today.

This morning I got to thinking: what would I do this year to remember Samantha-Lyn? I trawled through my old photo albums looking for picture that I could include. But where to start?

A few months ago, a friend shared a song with me by Andrew Peterson. The song struck a chord with me straight away because it reminded me of the loneliness of grief: "It'll break a man's timbers when he loses his heart, when he has to remember what broke him apart ... what about the time when even followers get lost?"

The Silence of God







And it's true. Sometimes we experience the Silence of God. But lately, I've been reminded of a new truth, and that is the truth of grace. Grace is about transformation; it's because of grace that we are able to smile again. Samantha-Lyn brought grace into our lives.

We were blessed to have the services of the man I think is the best gynaecologist in the world: Dr Cheifitz. Even as we grieved over what we had lost and what had gone wrong, he was looking at ways to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again. Because of what had happened the first time round, he started planning even before I fell pregnant again. And, because of this, I have three sons, and I have learned to smile again.




When the boys were young, we made sure they knew about their sister because we believed that their lives had been saved by lessons that had been learned out of that incredibly painful experience. One of my most precious memories of their early childhood is the boys sending balloons to their sister in heaven.

And this is why today I don't want to focus on grief: rather I want to think about grace. Grace is what God gives when we have no hope of success.

The Gaither Vocal Band have written a song called - A Picture of Grace. The song tells us of the redeeming power of grace: how a life with no hope can be transformed by the redeeming grace of God.

'But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 5:20)

Picture a man with no reason for living

With no hope of smiling again
Imagine a world with no golden daybreak
Enclosed by the blackness of sin

Then the scene is bathed in bathed in beauty and glory
Transformed by love’s sweet embrace
The hands of the Saviour erased all my sorrow
And painted this picture of grace

The ashes and ruin that once filled the picture

Have vanished and faded from view
And beautiful touches of mercy adorn
That picture he painted anew

Such peace fills the eyes of the man he created

A smile gently rests on his face
Since Jesus erased all the guilt of my past
And painted this picture of grace

How skilful the hands of the artist

Who painted this picture of me
He saw with the eyes of a master
How beautiful my life could be

Where once was a portrait of gloom and despair

This masterpiece hangs in its place
It’s signed with his blood and it’s framed with his glory
This beautiful picture of grace

A Picture of Grace