A Time For Everything

Friday, January 30, 2009 - Jaime, today we had our final ceremony for you...your burial. Everything has been so stretched out...it has been a long couple of weeks. Pain, heartache, loss, sorrow...we've walked through it all, and are still mourning our loss. Our hearts are scarred; we will be forever changed. Life will never taste the same, look the same, smell the same, or feel the same. But we also share happy memories...remembering your smile, your wit and humor, the way you can speak any accent and impersonate anyone perfectly...Jaime, you were a true jewel to know and love. Thankfully, we have the joy in knowing you are at rest in the Lord's arms. God knows we will never stop missing you, yearning to see you again, hear your voice, look into your eyes. But through this, I can surely testify that God is true and real. What I believed by faith about Him before is now lived and breathed daily as He sustains me and cradles me close to His chest while He comforts me through the terribly hard times of missing my first-born. God truly has a supernatural power that is felt in His strength. He never gives more than we need, lest we rely on our own strength. But when you ask God to sustain you, to draw near, to get you through, He is there in an incredibly perfect way that carries you through the pain and cradles you close to His heart. For He knows what we are enduring. He has been there with His only Son. It is our duty to tell others what God can do - what He IS doing for us. Jaime, we've always been connected in an amazing, spirit-filled way. When you were in my womb, I knew you were a girl...a blonde-haired daughter to love. When we almost lost you at a few days old, the fear I felt at seeing and holding you (I was only 18 and had never held a newborn) was erased as I prayed earnestly for God to save you and let me love you. The nurses patiently taught me how to hold you, feed you, burp you, and as I visited you every day I felt my confidence rise so that when we were able to take you home, I was ready. Jaime, for most of your life you were my shadow...we were always together. Our relationship was so special, not the typical mother-daughter one. YOU were special. We were so alike...and so different. But after your daddy, you were my best friend and I knew I was yours. As an adult, you struggled to find your own way and we suffered many growing pains from your search, but we had made it back to each other and I knew our relationship would become stronger for it. But God had other plans. As His word says, For there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace... Oh, God, thank you for the time we had to know and love Jaime, the time to dance with her, to grow and discover with her. God, thank you for sending your daughter to us to love. Jaime, it is our time to weep, it is your turn to laugh, it is our time to mourn, but it is your time to dance...