Hope Through the Tears

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (NASB) Grief is something that we all have in common. At some point, we will all experience loss. July 29th, 2023, was the day I felt it very deeply. My “Papa” (grandpa) Wesley Cardinal went to be with Jesus. After a long battle with dementia, the Lord in His mercy took him where he wouldn’t feel pain and healed his body completely. After this loss, I was left feeling alone and very hopeless. I was a Christian, but I was so consumed by grief that I couldn’t see anything good coming out of this. I wasn’t reading my Bible. One day I picked it up and was reading the (above) passage from 1 Thessalonians. The part where Paul says he is sharing these things so that we don’t “grieve as those who have no hope” jumped out at me. Why was I in such despair? I had hope, and my Papa had that same hope while he was still here. The God of the universe is a personal God. He saw me in all my pain. He has plans for my pain and it will not be wasted. He will teach me to depend on Him more, surrender everything to Him, and trust Him to walk beside me. The verse that reminds me of my Papa is Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (NKJV). My Papa is complete now and walking by His Savior. I still have this race to run and I desire to finish it well. — Karissa Cardinal   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org