God Brought New People for Me to Love

My husband never got to know my twin, Maria. Mike and I met about a year after Maria was killed in a car accident.

A friend introduced us at the Bible college we were both attending at the time. Mike and I went on to date, get engaged, and then marry. Over the next 10 years, three precious children were born to us.

I would never suggest that my husband or children in any way replaced my twin. No soul can ever replace another unique soul.

Yet, we may find that as we lose a loved one, God brings other people into our lives for us to love and cherish.

In Genesis 24:67, Jacob is described as taking Rebekah into his home as his wife - a new relationship that gives him comfort after his mother's death.

Certainly, for me, the years of raising my children filled my emptiness and ushered in renewed purpose and joy. Yes, I still missed my twin and would always feel the ache of her leaving.

Yet I have discovered that one can live with heartache and still genuinely laugh and sing, dance and play.

I love the verse, Isaiah 43:19, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland” (NLT). While originally addressed to the Israelites in exile, this verse is understood to be applicable to all of us who trust in Christ as our Saviour.

I understand from this passage that no time in our lives is so devastating that Jesus cannot make something new and good out of it. Sometimes, we may find on that new path that there are new souls for us to love. Or, we may renew or deepen relationships with people that we couldn't spend as much time with before.

My challenge is to make sure I am open and willing to reach out and love again even in heartache.

New relationships never cancel out the ones that have paused here on earth due to death. I still love my twin and I trust I will see her again, when we will have all eternity to enjoy one another's company.

But could it be that we honour the memory of our loved ones by being willing to step out and risk loving someone else as we loved them? Yes, each relationship will be absolutely unique and beautiful in its own way. And I'm certainly not suggesting that we instantly leap into another close relationship after a loss.

It may simply be that we choose to be willing to watch for who God seems to be bringing into our lives even as we grieve. Perhaps those people are gifts from Him.

Pictured below. Three of the precious children God has brought into my life for me to love and cherish: