Grief

Grief. It's something that I know very little about personally and yet it seems to surround so many people I either love or care about and even some who I have never seen and probably never will. Tracy is a friend of Mark's and mine from college at the University of Alabama. The pictures below are of her, her children and her husband, Brian who passed away on Monday after fighting cancer for several months.

Our lives are so short and we never know what might be around the corner. An accident that happens within seconds, an illness that we never saw coming or the loss of a child that shakes the very foundation of who we are and what we believe in. Another blog I follow is of a family that lost their newborn baby daughter this past week. She lived only a few days and the strength and courage I've read in their words brings me to my knees.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

I have heard this scripture quoted many times over the last few years and I clearly remember the first time someone I very much admire quoted it. The Rev. Dr. Bill Harter, spoke these words at a funeral he presided over that I attended nearly 15 years ago. I remember coming home and telling Mark that I had never heard the passage before and how it so moved me to know that our Holy Spirit would interceed on our behalf when we didn't even know what to pray for. And not just interceed but with "groans that words cannot express", the pain, the agony that truly words cannot even begin to convey. Those are the emotions that our Holy Spirit communicates to our Father for us.

This scripture was posted on the Rowe's website and I have said it so many times in my head this week as I prayed for Tracy, Hailey, Alex and Skyla. Please commit them to your prayers, through the coming days and months to come. They will need support to get through this journey, without a husband and a father. When I think of our family and the strength we draw from Mark I cannot even begin to phathom what our lives would be like without him.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26