After Losing A Child – Mary Did You Know?

Mary Did you Know?

Our choir sang this wonderful song by Mark Lowry this Sunday, and I got to thinking

about Mary and what she knew…or didn’t know… 

I wonder, Mary, did you know when you held your little son, that he would die an early death? Did you know He was the great I am? The Alpha and Omega?

Mary, did you think with much of your culture that as Messiah your son would be a ruling king, or did you know he came to suffer?

Mary, did you know when the angel told you and Joseph to get the babe out of the country by night that many were out to harm your child?

Mary, when you heard of (or actually heard) the cries of all the mothers who lost their children to Herod’s dreadful command to kill all baby boys, did you know the goal was to kill your son?

Mary did you know Jesus came to save you, and your family, as well as the rest of the world?

Mary did you have premonitions, or did you not need them because the angels gave warnings? Did you read the ancient scriptures – Did you have assurance that all would somehow work out to God’s glory? Mary did you know?

Were you in dread night and day wondering what would happen next? Did you lie awake at night worrying…or praying?  Mary, did you know but loved and trusted God too much to say no?

When I read the scriptures of times like when Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem and you had to go back to find him in the temple…I think you could not have known all that was to come …

Mary if you’d known would you have raised Jesus any differently? Would you have answered the angel any differently when you heard his words and were troubled? Did God give you His grace then, Mary, to even be able to answer the angel with such submission as to say “I am the Lord’s servant, be it as you have said.”

I ask myself these questions too, Mary, and I wonder if I’d have had the courage and faith to submit, and to ponder as you did, rather than cry out and beg for escape.

Did you ever wish you knew what was to come, Mary?…Or did you rather not know and take each day to love your child the best you could?

Did you know, Mary, that when you experienced the loss of your child it was for me too – and for all the mothers who would feel as though no one else had felt such pain? And did you know your loss and your pain, and your example of submitting to all that you did not know was a gift? Did you know Mary, that your “hopes and fears through all the years” were providing me – us – with the only one who could give eternal life? Did you know?

Did you know He came for my child too?  Did you know your child knew mine while she was still in the womb?  Did you know?

Did you know that your child’s birth would be remembered still in 2014 A.D. as Christmas – a memorial celebration day of your child – Christ – Messiah? Did you know that Jesus came to be the Shamash – (center servant candle) at Hanukkah?

Mary, did you know?

I think, Mary, that any doubts or worries you might have had were taken away when you saw your son is his full glory. I believe too that you have experienced our hope – to see him, and to be like him.

1John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

Resources after losing a child: Feel free to contact me. I’d be honored to hear your story.

This is a very good article about Kay Warren’s response after her son’s suicide when people were telling her she should move on now. She says, “The best we can do is to say, “My heart breaks for you. I have experienced grief, and my heart aches for you.”

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/march-web-only/kay-warren-grieving-mental-illness-suicide-saddleback.html

https://onedaringjew.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-christmas/

Lyrics – Mary Did you Know by Mark Lowry

https://deloresliesner.com/2014/12/22/the-gift-of-seven-and-other-giving-traditions/