Pressing On

ME

MOMMA

I got the phone call early on a cold winter morning in 2012 while I was unloading packages in a UPS box truck in Charleston, WV.

We weren't allowed to answer our phones at work, but when I saw it was my brother calling I knew it was an emergency.

Mom was haded back to the hospital and it sounded serious.

She had been gaining fluid due to her congestive heart failure and could barely stay conscious.

So I drove 400 miles from Charleston, WV to Nashville with my little family (Kayla, baby Brayden and I) to go be with Momma.

By the time I got to see my Mom, she was on a ventilator in the ICU of Baptist Hospital.

It messed me up seeing her like that, but I put on an encouraging, happy face for her anyway.

I slept several nights in the ICU lobby, praying, fasting, and getting up in the middle of the night to read scriptures of healing to my Mom while she was sleeping.

She started to get better day by day, and I remember talking to one of the doctors who said he was optimistic about her condition.

As Mom started to get better, I prepared to go back to go back to WV, thinking she would make it through this trial.

But as I walked out of the ICU where Mom was I looked back at her as she was looking at me, I had this sinking feeling that it would be the last time I would see her alive on this earth.

And it was.

The doctors took her off the vent in hopes that her body would be strong enough for her to breath on her own.

But it wasn't.

And when my brother asked her if she wanted to be put back on the vent if it would give her more time, she wrote down in big letters "NO."

They took her out of the ICU shortly after that so she could be comfortable in her last hours.

I got to talk to her one last time on the phone the night before we were heading back to Nashville, telling her how much I loved her and that it was ok for her to go home.

And the next morning as we were racing down to TN to be with her in her final hours.

We didn't make it in time.

At 8:30am central time she passed away.

A few hours later we made it to the hospital.

It was so weird walking into that place knowing that she was gone.

When we got to the room she was still in the bed.

I just put laid my head on her shoulder and lost it, ugly crying for I don't know how long.

I knew she was in heaven already, but everything within me wanted to hold on.

That night on the way to Cracker Barrel, God gave me these verses as comfort:

1 Corinthians 15:53-55

53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

*FB POST March 7, 2012*

I remembered that night that death doesn't win anymore because of Jesus Christ.

I wish I could say that I had perfect faith over the last 10 years.

I haven't!

I would go through depression that came out of nowhere time and time again thinking about Mom.

But God comforted me in each and every one of those moments, and I look forward to seeing her again in Heaven as I keep trying to accomplish the mission that Christ has for me now on this earth.

WE

We all go through times in life when we just don’t know how we’ll make it through.

Maybe it’s losing someone we love.

Parents getting a divorce.

Or we face mental or physical abuse that no one knows about.

Sometimes we face bad consequences because of our own bad choices, and at other times we face terrible things and it’s not our fault at all.

That’s life in a fallen world.

And it really sucks sometimes.

GOD

A long time ago, there was a King who faced some terrible consequences because of a series of really bad, sinful choices that he made.

He had an affair with one of his best soldier’s wives, and she had a child by David.

David unsuccessfully tried to cover up this affair, and finally he had the soldier Uriah killed.

But then this happened:

2 Samuel 12:15–23 (NIV)

After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”

David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.

“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”

Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.

His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”

He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

David pleaded with God

He wouldn't eat.

Slept on the ground.

Begged God to spare this child.

But David knew right from wrong, good from evil.

He had spent intimate time with God.

The Bible says he was a “man after God’s own heart.”

Yet he turned away from God and back to sin.

Chrysostom: “And I do not say this to overturn fasting (God forbid!) but to exhort you that with fasting you do that which is better than fasting, the abstaining from all evil.”

And although David had turned back to God in repentance, there were still some terrible consequences to his sin:

The death of his newborn child, and later the death of two of his grown children.

This can be a lesson for all of us:

God will forgive our sins even on our deathbed, but if we choose to honor Him when we’re young, it can save us from a lot of terrible consequences.

Mourning to Worship

David prays, but his child still dies.

You would think there would be more mourning to come, but something surprising happens:

David begins a worship service.

He gets cleaned up and praises God.

Not something normal for someone who just lost someone they love.

And David’s servants are thinking it’s pretty weird too:

2 Samuel 12:21 (ESV)

Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”

They thought the king had lost his mind.

Far from it...

2 Samuel 12:22–23 (ESV)

He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Since deceased believers are with Christ, there is no reason for excessively grieving over them (Ambrose)

Yes, it hurt David deeply that his son died.

But why should he be depressed when he knew that His son was now with God in paradise?

He grieved, it hurt.

But he knew that his child was in a far better place and with that perspective he could move on.

David fasted and mourned because he loved his child. But once his baby died, he moved forward knowing that he would go to see his child one day.

David repents of his sin and God forgives him, but there are still consequences to his sin.

Yet by repenting and receiving God's grace David is healed.

TURNING AWAY HELPS US LIVE A NEW WAY.

YOU

Turning away from the sin that destroys and towards a God who heals makes you brand new.

He can turn your mess into a message:

*Groeschel Mess into message tiktok*

What do you need to turn away from today?

The sooner you turn away, the sooner you can be healed and be made new.

*Prayer*

WE

What if we could learn from David’s mistakes and choose to consistently obey God?

We wouldn’t be bogged down by the consequences of sin, but we would be free to live for Christ every day.

And we would make Christianity believable to an unbelieving world.

*Response Cards*

*Small group intro question*