Resurrection

His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and He will come to us like the spring rain watering the earth.

Hosea 6:8

Last fall, a few weeks after our first miscarriage, I received a package in the mail from a sweet friend of mine. ThoughAliand I have never met in real life, we've gotten to know each other through our blogs, and eventually Facebook. She is, I think, what Anne of Green Gables would call a kindred spirit, beautiful inside and out, and she radiates the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in her life.

What she sent was the most beautiful, perfect gift that anyone could have given me, and I am still moved to tears when I read the message on her card.

"As I prayed, The Lord laid it on my heart to send you these tulip bulbs. Please plant them in remembrance of your sweet baby. There are 9 of them to honor the 9 weeks your baby lived on this earth and multi-colored since we will not know until heaven if it was a boy or girl. When they bloom next spring, I hope they will serve as a reminder to you that your baby still lives and that he/she is safe in the arms of Christ."

What Ali did not know was that only days before I had been talking with Dave, telling him that I wanted to plant something to remember the baby by. We didn't have a grave to visit, and I wanted a visual memorial, something to speak to the fact that the baby had actually existed.

I get goosebumps when I think of how The Lord moved Ali to send me exactly what I desired. How well He knows our hearts, and how we can be used by Him in other's lives if we are only seeking Him!

So last September I planted those tulips. If I'm being honest, I was pretty skeptical that they would come up. I'm not the best gardener {ok -- not a gardener at all} I planted them upside down at first and then had to dig them all up and plant them again. I really didn't expect them to come up, or at least I didn't expect all of them too.

But then, three days before Easter, we saw them -- tiny green plants shooting up through the soil. I counted them yesterday. And there they are, all 9 of them.

God has woven the very fabric of the story of redemption into creation and we can see it, if we look.

There are winters in our lives–times when it appears that everything is dead or dying...During this darkness of cold, there is a deepening of roots that will allow new and better growth, a putting off of the old leaves and wilted fruit to make way for the new. It is in the darkest of nights that wisdom is learned, perspective is given, humility clothes our soul.

Though in the middle of the night, as in the middle of winter, gloom flows over and the fog of despair rains hard on our hearts. However, this is not the end of our story.

Sally Clarkson

This is not the end of our story, friends!

Because, many years ago God put on human skin. He lived perfectly and then laid himself down on a cross and let them nail His hands and feet. He died and was put in the ground.

Like the tulips, His body lay dormant for three days.

And then, life sprang forth.

Death could not keep Him. The grave could not contain Him.

Just as Ali had hoped, those tulips remind me that death does not have the final word. Not in the life of my now two sweet babies. Not in my life. Not in the life of anyone who has set their hope squarely in the person of Christ.

Because He lives, my babies live.

"Because, He lives, I can face tomorrow."