What "Front Row at the Funeral" Really Means...And What Hope in Jesus Looks Like in the Face of Life-Altering Grief

Front row at the funeral isn’t just a terrible place to sit for one day. It means a front row seat for all the rest of the awful for years to come. Front row to realize what shock, trauma, crippling anxiety, and more can do to ravage your physical body. Front row to be gutted on the inside while looking strong on the outside as you powerlessly witness your children navigating unimaginable pain. Front row to see people’s disappointment when they realize the old you died that day too and you can’t be who they want you to be anymore. Front row to judge yourself far too harshly because, would you be struggling this much if you were a “better Christian?”

But, in time, it is a front row seat to watch some other things unfold too, if you are fortunate…and paying attention. You get the best seat in the house to see who the most important people really are and watch what it looks like for them to change their own lives to make room for the upheaval that is now your life. To surround and protect you and your children and make sure you don’t face any of the dark days alone. To relentlessly remind you what the Word of God says when the enemy wants to see you hopeless.

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