There is a statement that is often repeated when someone is walking the journey of grief. It is: “People are wrong when they say that time heals.” They say this in response to others who say that time heals all things. However, I would like to declare that in time, God does heal the brokenhearted. For some God spares a person from a long season of grief and for others it is years. For me, 22 years after the loss of our 12-year-old son, I can honestly say that God has turned my mourning into dancing. The pain of grief can crush us but in the process of pressing into God, an aroma pleasing to God is released. As when a crushed rose emanates a sweet aroma, so too when we go on after a great loss and continue to worship God declaring his goodness. These times of clinging to God despite the great pain becomes a living sacrifice to him.
In time my heart did heal as I yielded to God along the journey. Though I still miss Sammy, my mourning has changed. I get glimpses of the pleasure God has smelling the sweet aroma coming from my life. “It is well with my soul.” My thoughts have turned from dwelling on the pain of loss to the joy of being reunited with him. The veil between heaven and earth has become very thin and grief has become part of a seamless garment….a life that encompasses birth, joy, pain, loss, death, and rebirth into a new heaven and earth where there will be no more pain or death or sorrow. It will be a glorious time of meeting God face to face and a time of reunion with loved ones. How I long for that day.