The Family of Christ

 

 Being a part of Christ's family is a beautiful thing. After loosing our son, we were surrounded by our family in Christ. In the midst of all our sadness, God was near. He was present in our time of trouble. 

In order to help with the grieving process, I was given a devotional that would help me sort through my emotions. In the devotional it mentioned writing a letter to our son. Nate sat down and began writing as I could not get too many thoughts together. I am always impressed at how he can put his thoughts down on paper.

 Below is our letter to Elijah. We want to share it with you all. We pray that you will be encouraged  in your walk with God . Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as we try to discern what God has in store for our future.

In Memory of

Elijah Dale Sweerin

“the Lord is my God”

To our son Elijah,

Your life is a testament to God’s love and provision. From the day he formed you in your mother’s womb, God had a plan for you. You were perfectly and wonderfully made by the Creator. As we anticipated your arrival, you gave us much joy.  We made many arrangements for your birth in December, and we were hopeful all our planning would fall into place, but God had a different plan marked out for all of us. You came much earlier than we expected, and as a result your life here on Earth was short. When we saw you for the first time, we were amazed at how handsome you were and our love for you was instant. Your mother said your name over and over again so that everyone around her knew your name was Elijah. When they told us you were gone, we stared at you as long as we could, and our hearts were heavy with sadness. We did not want to forget your sweet little face. The reality of you not being with us in this life was very difficult for us to grasp as we wanted you in our arms and a part of our family, but for some reason God wanted you to come and be with him in heaven.  You were loved by many even though you were only here for a short time. You will always be in our hearts Elijah. We are thankful that you are in God’s perfect care. As we share your story with others, it is our prayer that they may know we serve a loving God who cares for his people. Even though we do not understand why you are not here with us, we hope that others will get to know the life and joy you now have with Christ. We look forward to seeing you again one day as our family will not be complete until we are all together with our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. We love you so much and miss you every day.

Love,

Dad, Mom, and Natalie