Very few of you know that my mom, Nell Maulding, died from dementia at age 92 a few days ago. She loved Jesus, loved sharing His good news, and loved other people. She and I were very close, and she was my greatest cheerleader growing up. Until she went into the nursing home last December, she told me what she had told me for years. “I’m proud of you.” She also taught me how to have a good social IQ, which has been a blessing throughout the years. So, you can see that God used her to shape the trajectory of my life.
When I received the news of her peaceful, pain-free death, I was surprised but thankful for how much joy the Holy Spirit caused me to experience along with His peace. I’ve experienced negligible grief, but more may come later, which will be OK. I’m not writing this to indicate that my grief experience is or should be the norm. We all grieve differently, and the circumstances of our loved ones’ death can contribute significantly to the intensity and length of our grief.
How we grieve compared to those who don’t know Christ can be very different when death comes. This is clearly explained in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (NLT) as it encourages us with these words,
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
Those outside of Christ do not have the sure hope we have that our loved ones in Christ will be with Jesus immediately after death and beyond. We will see and be with them again in heaven and later on the new earth. Sadly, many live with the illusion that their loved ones will go to heaven without Christ.
Setting our minds on things above, not on things of the earth (Colossians 3:1), can comfort our souls in the midst of our grief.
