Doomed to Die (or not)

The first time I met Carol, she was leading four small grandchildren into the church.

They stuck out to me because they were quiet and sat so still.

“These kids need to be in church,” Carol said, and conceded, “It is good to be here.”

This week, I watched those little kids, who are adults with their own children now, look into a casket to say goodbye to the grandmother who had cared for them.

They again sat quietly and so still on the front row of the church, turning around every now and again to shush their own little ones. 

Though Carol struggled with addiction throughout her lifetime, she confessed faith in Jesus. During her final week, when my husband asked her if she had been contemplating any particular scripture, she said, “Oh yes,” and asked him to turn to Psalm 25.

“Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”

Carol’s life here held many troubles, but she clung to the steadfast love of Jesus as an anchor for her soul.

At the service, my husband told attendees that Carol is alive in heaven, but if they do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, then they are the ones who are dead.

The Psalmist wrote that the Lord looks down from heaven “to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord.”

During the same week as Carol’s funeral services, Hamas released several captives who had been held since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. They were thin, with shadowed eyes and grim faces. They had been doomed to die, but now, have been freed. 

Omer Wenkert, one of the freed captives, told The Times of Israel, “After a struggle that seemed endless, I got to receive my life and freedom back, and this is my time to join the struggle for the return of my brothers who are left behind.”

The Apostle Paul wrote, “We are treated as dying, and behold, we live.”

We are all doomed to die. No one can escape the plain fact of mortality. However, when we place our faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, death becomes only a shadow in the light of life. We are redeemed from death so that we can point out to others the Way of eternal life.

Several years ago, Carol gave me some strawberry plants from her own productive strawberry patch in front of her house. I planted them, and they still bear every summer, though right now, they are covered in snow. They may appear to be doomed to die, but the warming days tell a different story.

Spring is coming, and with it resurrection, when the Lord will set free those who had been doomed to die. Then, we will truly live. Find someone to tell.

Find more from Sarah Dixon Young at her Substack Channel.