A Day Redeemed

January 1st is a day marked with celebration, newness, and excitement for the fresh year! But unfortunately for my husband Jonathan and our family, January 1st has always been a sad and grief-filled day. My husband grew up with one older brother Zak. (Check out these adorable pictures of them). When Jonathan was 15 years old, his family got a call that Zak had been in a bad motorcycle accident and was killed. He was only 18 years old.

Zak's birthday was January 1st. You can imagine the challenge and maybe even relate to what it feels like when one day (that used to be so much fun with celebrating a birthday) is immediately exchanged with grief, sadness, and a real complexity of emotions. By the time Jonathan and I were married, I think the family had come to accept that January 1st would always be a really hard day for our family.

Fast forward 16 years after Jonathan's brother was killed, I was 38 weeks pregnant. We cancelled our New Year's Eve plans when I started having a few contractions and decided to stay home. Kennedy Rose Forrest was born shortly after we arrived to the hospital on January 1st! The hospital was empty since it was a holiday, so we were the only couple in the labor and delivery wing.... but I'm telling you there was never more joy filling that space!

For 15 years, my husband and his family carried such grief on January 1st of not being able to celebrate Zak's birthday. But on year sixteen, God decided to completely redeem the day to our family. The day of hurt and pain was instantly changed to a day of joy and celebration of life once again! We will be celebrating on this day for the rest of our life.

I wanted to be transparent and share this story, not so you can think, "wow, what a nice coincidence for this family." But I share this story so you can be reminded that God sees you. He hasn't forgotten about your pain and hurt - whether it is a recent wound, one that's 15 years old, or one that seems a lifetime away. He hurts for you. I pray you are reminded that God doesn't allow pain and suffering without something new to be born. He wants to turn our brokenness into something life-giving!