Rejoicing and Weeping

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“Rejoice with those who rejoice;
​mourn with those who mourn.”
Romans 12:15

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Yesterday I attended a party. It was a joyful celebration of a couple adopting a little boy!

The new mom and dad were there along with their new son. Extended family and friends gathered to celebrate the answered prayers. God had made a way when there seemed to be no way. God’s “Yes” answer came to life in the form of a blue-eyed, blonde-haired little boy with a captivating smile.

The new mom has been a friend of my daughter since they were in junior high. They went to school together, they played volleyball together and they have remained friends since those school days. It was a joy to attend the party!

This morning I attended a funeral. The young woman who passed away after a sudden health complication was also a friend of my daughter and classmate of one of my younger sons. She was another of my daughter’s teammates during their volleyball-playing years.  We don’t like attending this kind of event because it just seems very wrong for one so young to lose her life.  

When this young lady went into a coma last week, many prayers for healing from so many people were prayed. A community prayer vigil was held. But God’s answer did not restore the young woman’s health in this world. Instead, she went on to be with her Savior, Jesus.

What a range of emotions I have felt in the last few days! Great joy and great sorrow, all mixed together. I don’t know the answers to the many “why” questions that are asked at a time like this. But I do know that both families have a Heavenly Father who loves them beyond what we can even understand. He is capable and willing to carry His children through both the mountain top and the tragic, deep valley journeys.

The Apostle Paul tells us as believers in Jesus, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)
Paul also wrote, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (27) Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12 26-27).
 
The body of Christ, that is what we are and what an important body it is. We rejoice together and we mourn together. And we do not rejoice, nor do we mourn without Jesus. Jesus rejoiced when he lived on this earth. He went to wedding feasts (John 2:1-11). And Jesus mourned when He lived here as well. He wept when his friend Lazarus was dead, right before raising Lazarus from the grave (John 11:33-35).

I continue to pray for both of these families, the one who is rejoicing and the one who is mourning.  Jesus loves them both so very much!

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