Easter. This past week, Holy Week, has brought a lot of grief back for me. It’s those waves of emotions I experience going through another holiday without Makayla. My heart has been fixed in one spot all week, bringing to mind precious moments we had with her during Easter. This was one of her favorite holidays, and rightly so, because she decided to follow the Lord on Easter Sunday in 2016. She was seven years old! I remember our family was gathered around our dining room table when the topic of salvation through Jesus Christ was brought up. Great conversation starter, and a way for kids to ask questions! Makayla was intrigued by the topic. We explained how she could spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus if she would make Him Lord of her life. We discussed further what that would look like, and the future she would have in Jesus. In a moment she chose to follow Him. She repeated a prayer led by Mike (her dad) and gave her heart over to Jesus. I recorded that sweet prayer on video and plan to watch it this coming Sunday in remembrance of that day.

Two years later, on Easter Sunday April 1st 2018, she was Baptized. It was another decision she made without waiver, to publicly profess her faith in front of our church family. She was so excited. The picture above is from that day. Do you see the look on her face? How could you miss it. This snapshot was taken the moment she was lifted out of the water, after her official Baptismal confession. It is one of pure joy! A true illustration of becoming a New Creation in Christ Jesus. There was no hiding what Makayla felt at that moment; it’s written all over that sweet smile. Again, her dad was by her side helping her make that precious step.

This is where the grief begins again. I’m reminded and have replayed the events that took place one year later, on Easter Sunday April 21, 2019. The beginning of our story and one that came out of nowhere. It was this weekend that Makayla was in the hospital recovering from a major surgery after being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Her left kidney was removed on Good Friday (of all days), and so we gathered together as a family that Easter in her hospital room; not at our dining room table. We did not celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, nor her anniversary of baptism or salvation that year. Instead, we gathered together around her hospital bed trying to stay afloat of all the hard conversations and decisions needing to be made for her immediate treatment plan. It was awful! My mother in-law brought us dinner, in hopes it would provide Makayla a “taste” of Easter, but she was still heartbroken! In her mind, Easter had been “cancelled” because of her surgery.

I won’t go into detail what Easter looked like the following year, 2020. It’s a time I find really hard to talk about, let alone write about. I’ll put it this way, Makayla was not doing well, and her body was rapidly showing signs of disease and deterioration. It was a time my heart was breaking in a million pieces with no avail. A time I couldn’t control, not even through prayer. It’s a time I wish could be erased from existence. No parent should see their child in such a condition.

This year for Easter, we plan to visit Makayla at her grave site.

We will still celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and all that represents. It’s our saving grace, our sanctification, our salvation, our inheritance into eternity. A true gift from a loving Heavenly Father and one that guarantees we will see Makayla again. Our faith in the most important story in human history will not weaken from our loss. Easter is what the Christian life is all about and is what gives us hope. Would you agree?

I stand of the words of Galatians 2:20 where it says:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

We will walk through this Easter holiday not only in remembrance and celebration of what Jesus did on the cross for us all, but also in remembrance of those precious moments we had with Makayla. It’s those moments that assure us where she is and who she’s with, because she chose to invite Christ into her heart that one Easter Sunday. It’s a true depiction of what Christ came to conquer. And so.. to that I will say ‘Raise a Hallelujah’!