Remembering Karis

My birthday will always be a bittersweet time for me. I shared it with my niece Karis, who went to be with the Lord in February 2009. She was just 7 years old, a perfectly healthy and spunky little pixie, and one day she unexplainably drew her last breath.


There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her, and then breathe a prayer for my sister and brother-in-law. I've seen a lot of grief, but there is none that compares to a parent burying a child. Certain days are harder than others, and birthdays are particularly difficult. As I prayed for them this morning, I was reminded of a phrase that's found in two psalms, "He brought me out into a spacious place..." and I think verses from Psalm 31 make a fitting prayer for today:


Heavenly Father,

Monica and Jerald will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You see their affliction and know the anguish of their souls. You have not handed them over to the enemy of grief and sorrow, but have brought them out into a spacious place of healing, strength and trust.

Be merciful to them, O LORD, for they are in distress; their eyes grow weak with sorrow, their souls and bodies are weak with grief. Their lives are sometimes consumed by anguish and their years by groaning; their strength fails because of their grief, and their bones grow weak. But they trust in you, O LORD; they say, "You are my God."

Their times are in your hands; deliver them from the grief and sorrow that pursues them. Let Your face shine on Monica and Jerald; save them in Your unfailing love.

In Christ Jesus our Lord,
Amen

Happy Birthday Krazy K - we miss you!!