With Hope

I'm sure many of you have heard about the terrible tragedy that has struck Steven Curtis Chapman's family. His 5 yo daughter Maria was killed yesterday when her teenage brother hit her with the family's SUV while he was pulling into their driveway! He didn't see her and the accident was witnessed by some other family members. I can't even imagine the pain that they are going through. My heart is breaking for them. I read that they had just celebrated their oldest daughters engagement and they were only a few hours away from their son Caleb's graduation party. The media is not releasing the son's name who was driving the car, which is totally understandable. That poor boy has to go through the rest of his life knowing that he killed his sister! Let's all pray for him especially, I can't imagine how he is feeling. If you go to Steven's website you can watch a cute video of Maria and you can leave a comment if you want. Steven's songs have blessed and helped so many people through hard times in their life and I know that his family will be carried through this by the prayer's of the thousands of beleivers who are lifting them up to our Father in heaven. I know the song 'With Hope' especially helped our own family through losing our neice Francesca. He probably never thought that song would be for him one day...

"We can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

cause we know our goodbye is not the end, no

and we can grieve with hope

cause we believe with hope

There's a place, by God's grace

There's a place where we'll see your face again

We'll see your face again."

God did not promise us a life without pain but he did promise to never leave us or forsake us. He loves us and grieves along with his children. His heart breaks to see us being affected by the sin in this world. We live in a broken world and it will not be without pain until we are with our Lord in Eternity!

" Father in heaven, we lift up the Curtis family during this terrible tragedy. We know that you knew the number of days Maria would be on this earth and she lived 100% of her life, but it is hard for us to understand why things like this happen. We know that you are weeping with them and you will hold them during this time. Please help them to feel our prayers and to know that they will live again. We especially want to pray for the brother who was driving the car, he must be in inconceivable pain right now. Please whisper in his ear and let him know that he is forgiven and help him to be able to one day remember Maria without the guilt of what happened. They all have a long road ahead of them and we just pray that they will look to you for strength. We pray all of these things in our precious Lord and Saviour's name Jesus Christ. Amen"

Steven Curtis Chapman's website is www.stevencurtischapman.com