An Easter Prayer (Reposted from 2015)

I’ve been coming to this place for 14 years now,                                                                                                  but I still can’t believe what I see when I come here.

Is that really my son’s name written on that gravestone?                                                                                 Are those really the dates of his lifespan?                                                                                                             It’s too short; I wanted more time.                                                                                                                         But we didn’t get more time, did we?

I look at this grave and I remember the day we buried him.                                                                           The pain was so raw, so deep, so intense, so suffocating.                                                                                 The tears were so many and so bitter.

I remember wishing that the world would stop so I could get off this cruel ride.                                             I remember being depressed.                                                                                                                                       I remember being in a fog.                                                                                                                                            I remember being so broken that I didn’t know if I would ever be put back together, nor did I care.

I remember being angry with you, God.                                                                                                                    I remember being confused by you, God.                                                                                                                  I remember feeling abandoned by you, God.

But now…I know better.

You are the God who knows what it’s like to watch your son take his last breath.                                      You are the God who enters into his people’s pain in order to share their pain.                                         You are the God who is near to the brokenhearted.

You are the God of the resurrection, and                                                                                                              you have resurrected my broken life,                                                                                                                    you have repaired the shattered pieces,                                                                                                                you have resuscitated my spirit,                                                                                                                             you have redeemed my suffering,                                                                                                                          you have remembered me.

You are the God of the resurrection.

Every Easter I remember how you raised your son from the dead, and I remember that you will raise my son too.

You are the God of the resurrection.

Thank you, God, for Easter.