December 3rd 2009 was the day my girls and I entered our most violent storm.  A storm that lay hidden from the majority of the world around us.  A storm that threatened to take us out, to destroy us as individuals and as a family.  A storm like no other I have ever experienced but assuredly as long as I live on this earth I will face a similar but not identical storm again.

 December 3rd 2009 – the day Mark, my husband of 20 years and father of our four beautiful daughters, died.

 Five years ago today!

This past weekend my girls and I went away to the beautiful beach of Onemana.

Wonderful friends have a beach house there that sits on a slight hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  It is one of my most favourite places in the world.  I woke at 5.00am because one of my favourite things to do while I am there is watch the sunrise against the back drop of the endless ocean, and on Sunday morning it was a glorious.  The world turned from the darkest of greys into the most splendid dark pink, then faded to light pink and blue, and then, just like that, it was a stunning new day.

As I sat on the comfy bean bag on the deck covered by my mum’s handmade wool blanket those three words reverberated in my mind and then down into my soul – A New Day!

A New Day!

After every storm there rises a new day. It cannot be stopped.  The storm never lasts forever.

 

It is the same with grief – the damage caused by a storm of grief might remain and need fixing, but the fierceness and intensity of the grief does not endure forever.

There does come a new day.

And with that new day comes hope.

The same Psalm goes on to say:

My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises!

Wake up, my soul!  Wake up, O harp and lyre!

I will waken the dawn with my song.

I will thank you, Lord, in front of all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations.

For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.  May your glory shine over all the earth.

Psalm 57:7-11

Today on the fifth anniversary of Marks death, with you, the readers of this blog as my witnesses, I want to give thanks to the Lord God Almighty.  It is his protective wings in which I found shelter that has keep me safe through this storm.  It is his love that has comforted me, and it is his faithfulness that has given me hope to believe that my girls and I will make it through.

I am truly confident that God will continue to be all that we need as we continue life.  I am confident that God will never fail us or leave us, and I am confident that God will use this journey and experience for good.

 I will waken the dawn with my song.  I praise the Lord for New Days and I am confident in our New Day as a family because the Lord’s unfailing love and faithfulness never ever ends.

I will waken this New Day in my family’s life declaring to anyone who is listening or reading:

Thank you Jesus!  Thank you for protecting us, loving us, comforting us and raising us up again to have hope for this New Day.

 I praise and glorify the Lord God because he has truly and utterly done great things!