The Hope Card
By Nancy Canwell
 |
| Nancy Snyder Canwell |
I had been dreading April 11. It was on this date the previous year that Dan, my brother, died of stage-four inoperable stomach cancer. The five long yet too-short months between his diagnosis and his death had been both physically and emotionally draining for my family. Then after he died, we had to face a year of doing our best to make it through all the “firsts” without him. The first Thanksgiving. The first Christmas. The first birthday. The first graduation. The first family barbecue.
And now, I was dreading the first anniversary of his death. I didn’t want to relive the heart-wrenching images of his last week in the oncology ward of the large university hospital. I didn’t want to relive that last day at home when our family gathered around his bed praying, reading scripture, touching him, speaking words of great love to him, watching him rest comfortably… and then he was gone.
When our first Easter without him approached, Jesus’ resurrection meant more to me than ever. It is His resurrection that guarantees my brother’s resurrection! It was then that I began looking at April 11 in a different way; a way I felt I needed to share with my family. So I bought cards for my parents, siblings, and my brother’s family that simply said, “Hope” on the outside. The card was blank inside and I wrote these words and text:
April 11, 2007 — April 11, 2008: We’re one year closer to seeing Dan again!
Then our family will be together forever!
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
Choosing Hope
It was a deliberate choice on my part to view the one year anniversary in a hopeful way. I could have wallowed in the thought that it had been one long year since I’d seen my brother. But instead I chose to focus on the fact that I was one year closer to the second coming of Jesus and seeing Dan again.
Did I miss him on that one year anniversary? Oh yes. Did I cry? A bucket of tears. Yet at the same time I had a steady sense of hope that was even stronger than the grief.
I like what 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and 14 says to Christians who grieve the death of a loved one, and the down-to-earth way The Message Bible puts it: “And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don't want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.”
This text speaks to real life. It doesn’t say that as Christians we shouldn’t grieve when someone we love dies. Even as a Christian, you do grieve. You cry, you ache, you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut, and you may even get angry. But you don’t have to grieve in the same way as those who don’t have hope—as if at the grave you say an eternal goodbye. We do have hope. And every day, every month, every year, we’re that much closer to seeing our loved ones again.
Some might ask, “But I didn’t know the spiritual condition of my loved one who died. What if he or she wasn’t ready?” The truth is, you can’t know anyone’s heart like God does. But you can rest assured that the same Jesus who saved the thief dying on the cross in his last moments also knew the heart of your loved one. You can rest assured that the Judge is also the Savior.
| |
 |
|
| |
The Snyder Family
This was our last family picture, at Dan's last birthday, two months after his diagnosis. Our theme was Superman because of all he'd gone through. We smiled, but inside our hearts were breaking.
|
|
Hope? It’s there. The resurrection has been promised by the One who conquered death. And I believe with all my heart that it will someday be a reality—for me and my family—for you and your family, too.
Read the related story, My Hero
______________________________
|
