A prayer for when you grieve a loved one in heaven by Lisa Apollo, read by Leah Martin.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor

pain anymore. For the former things have passed away.

Revelation 21.

4.

I stooped to give my seven-year-old a good night hug and pray with him.

He'd made a palette on the carpet in my bedroom, something he often did after

Dan, my husband, died. By day he played like all the other little boys in the neighborhood.

You'd never know he was carrying a heavy blanket of grief.

On this night I listened as Matt prayed.

He thanked God for the good day and prayed for kids all over the world that needed help.

And then he closed with this.

Tell my dad, I said hello.

A thousand knives went through my heart.

Those words held pain, but they also held connection.

Dan on that side of heaven, us on this side,

him in the presence of God, us still walking it out in faith.

Him face to face with God, us still veiled from full glory.

Heaven had always seemed far off in time and space. It was a sure

thing but a someday thing so distant from the busy days of our life raising kids and paying bills and then it wasn't.

Death had brought pain, but it also brought connection.

I wish I could say I felt that connection to heaven before,

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