Louisa Grace Marcott Memorial
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I struggled trying to figure out what to say here today.
I know by talking to Landon and Grace, as well as some others here, as we grieve, we have questions.
More questions than answers.
One of the biggest struggles we may carry is chasing down the question, “Why?”
But God doesn’t seem to show up for the trial to defend Himself.
That is not God’s place. Nor is it our place.
There is so much that we don’t know. But today, I don’t want to look at our confusion.
I want to take today and remind us all what we do know.
Topic
Topic
What I Know:
God is with us
God is with us
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
I read through Psalm 34 probably a hundred times over this last year.
Here is something that stands out to me.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit
First of all, I want you to see this: there are brokenhearted and people who are crushed in spirit
These are realities in our lives. God doesn’t eliminate broken heartedness from our circumstances.
He know we will struggle, suffer and break.
But we know this. We are not alone in our struggle.
Our comfort here is that the Lord is close when we are broken.
Jesus makes this point in another way:
John 16:33 (NIV)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Here is what I know:
The Lord is near
We can take heart knowing that God is with us.
God is Good
God is Good
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Again, I go to Psalm 34.
Psalm 34 was written when David was going through a very difficult and confusing time in his life.
It was written as a reminder to himself about who God is. It is a powerful chapter of reminding us who God is in our trouble.
This passage says “Blessed is the one who takes refuge in the Lord”
This sounds good, until you are in a situation where you need to take refuge.
A refuge is a place of complete safety and protection.
Those that seek refuge are those that recognize that they are hurting, broken, injured, and in need of help they cannot provide for themselves.
David instructs us to take refuge in the Lord, and we will be blessed.
We will taste and see His goodness.
Fall before him in our grief. Allow Him to be our protection.
God is with us
God is Good
God will Redeem
God will Redeem
One of the greatest supernatural qualities of our God is that He can redeem.
Landon and Grace, when I spoke with you on the phone earlier, I told this to you:
In our loss, our mind goes to replacing what was lost.
God will not replace Louisa. She was unique in her life. She was created in the image of God. She was fearfully and wonderfully made. Nothing in all of creation will replace her.
But God will redeem her.
Redemption is our hope. She is gone from us, but she is not gone.
Redemption is such a difficult word for us to wrap our minds around
Redemption does not imply purpose
God redeems things that are broken by this world.
God doesn’t cause the breakage, but in the struggle, He shows His nature and His love. This is redemption
During this time, your faith has been pressed. Your hearts have been crushed.
This tragedy is producing a refinement of your hearts.
A refinement that He will use for His glory for the rest of your lives.
This didn’t happen SO you will be refined.
This happened, and God is not going to allow your grief to forever be the loss you feel today.
God will redeem this loss and you will reflect His love, grace and glory in a way that can only come from someone who has found refuge in the Lord in their time of trouble.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed (he is renewing us) day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Here is what I know:
God is with us
God is good
God will redeem
God loves us
God loves us
This cannot go without being said.
God loves us. This is a broken world, but in it, God loves us
We don’t understand everything, but we need to know, God loves us.
We may feel alone, but we know God is with us and more than that, He loves us.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.
John says we “rely” on the love God has for us.
I cannot think of a better word for that right now.
There isn’t very much that we feel we can rely upon.
But we can rely upon the love of God.
God is Hope
God is Hope
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
The ultimate hope of the believer is the resurrection from the dead
This was something else we talked about.
God created us to be eternal beings. We are not temporary. If we were, this tragedy is all the greater.
But we are not temporary beings. We are eternal beings.
Louisa is with her Creator.
You will join her one day.
This separation is temporary because of the salvation and hope we have in Christ Jesus.
Salvation message and Gospel
Jesus Christ is our hope.
I need to tell you today, that you need Jesus Christ
It is what brings hope to day like today
It is what brings a future when our present falls apart
Jesus died on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for sin
He was laid in a tomb and resurrected from the dead.
Our hope is by following Jesus in our own death and resurrection.
Reiteration
Reiteration
God is with us
He is good
He will redeem
He loves us
He is hope
Louisa Grace
Louisa Grace
One last piece I wanted to share with you today.
The name Louisa means “Warrior”
That combined with the middle name Grace shares what kind of person they envisioned her to be.
I know I’ve read a lot of Bible verses today, but I have one more. It is a verse for warriors.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things (In all of our struggles, grief, trials, and confusion) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May Louisa’s life be the reminder for us that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us.
And that there is nothing that can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
There is no greater legacy that can remain today.
What do we do with this today?
We grieve, we love, we weep, we worship.
