I Saw Jesus Today

A few months ago, with Halloween right around the corner, a woman was in a car accident. Her oldest son, 8 years old, was in the car with her. While the mother was relatively uninjured, her son died in the hospital shortly after the accident. I didn't realize it at the time I heard the story on the news, but this woman and her family lived right up the street from my family.

This time of year can be brutally hard for a family like this, especially when a tragedy is still so fresh, so I've been thinking alot about them. I decided to give them some Christmas goodies & hot cocoa mix just to let them know I was thinking about them and praying for them. I really can't imagine the heartache she and her husband and their other children must be feeling with the first Christmas without their son approaching.

I had only met her once before, but when she answered the door and saw me standing there, she smiled like we were old friends. Behind her, I couldn't help but notice a very large wall hanging with Jesus surrounded by children on it. She thanked me for the package; she hugged me; she continued to beam that warm smile at me, and I was struck by how joyful she was. I didn't want to walk away.This woman who has just lost a child couldn't keep the joy off her face or out of her eyes.

I know what that's about. She knows Jesus.

I've said before that our lives are our biggest apologetic for the truth of our faith, and this woman is one of the best examples I've seen. I barely know her, but I can see that even in her grief, she owns the certainty that Jesus gives all of His believers: death is conquered; Jesus is victorious. She knows she will see her precious son again one day and she trusts Jesus. She is most certainly sad and grieving terribly, but the joy and hope that she has in Jesus so overwhelms the sadness that you'd have to search for it to see it in her face.

Can you imagine what unbelievers who know her must be thinking - what they must be asking themselves? What is different about her? How can she maintain her joy in the face of such unspeakable pain? With God's grace, she will be able to share just how she can do that with someone who doesn't know Jesus.

But for me, I'm amazed. I saw Jesus today. Not in a wall hanging hung in an entry way but shining out from the joy-filled face of a grieving mother.