It was my first Easter Sunday without my husband.
As I looked around the church where my husband and I had worshiped and served together, I saw couples sitting side by side. The scene emphasized the undeniable fact that I was now alone.
This was my husband’s first full-time ministry church. At the age of forty-five, he had given up the highest paying job he’d ever had. But it was in this church that he began having an affair with a young wife who was the mother of two small children. From this church, they sped away in the darkness of midnight.
On that first Easter Sunday without my husband, the sermon was the joyful message of Christ’s resurrection. It was a jubilant proclamation that the grave could not keep Jesus a prisoner. A promise He had risen from the tomb to bring new life to all who would accept His gift. To those who had suffered losses and were mourning, He gave the assurance and the hope of new beginnings.
As I sat alone on that Easter morning, I felt pain and loneliness, but I was also aware of the Lord’s presence. I experienced the joy of His Spirit as I accepted the new life He offered.
I could have stayed home that Easter morning, telling myself it would be too painful to attend the worship service alone. Had I made that decision, I would have missed the blessing and the joy awaiting me.
If you have experienced the loss of a loved one—either through death or divorce—you can choose to dwell on the memories of the past or you can move forward to the new life Jesus Christ waits to give you.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Norma C. Mezoe strives to be a Barnabas in her writing and in her living. Norma has been a published writer for thirty years and has written for magazines, devotionals, and S.S. literature. She is active in her small church as clerk, teacher, and bulletin maker. Norma may be contacted at normacm@tds.net.