Our Homegoing: Unchanging Hope in Anticipatory Grief

This week, I share a guest post from a subscriber to Singing Christ’s Hope. She wrote this beautiful poem in her anticipatory grief of a beloved friend preparing to meet Jesus face to face. She wrote about our homegoing, our unchanging hope in Christ in every loss we experience in our earthly lives. 

Beloved in Christ, may He comfort you through this poem and the Scriptures and song I share. They all became His comforting grace for my own grief when I read Jen’s words.

Our Homegoing

Through many earthly blessings

and tumultuous years we roam;

We await that glorious day

When our Savior calls us home.

A day when strivings cease, 

And pain shall finally end, 

We’ll reach out for our Savior 

Who’s come for us to tend…

Love unimaginable will

Fill us to our core,

Eclipsing earthly matters 

And ALL that came before.

We’ll bow in adoration

Then be led through crystal gates

Where gemstones swirl kaleidoscope, 

And eternal friends await.

My friend, you’ll see Jesus 

Finally face-to-face!

You’ll glory in His presence, 

And love that heavenly space!

But friend, we will miss you, 

The impressions you have made!

The longings in our hearts 

For you will never fade.

Your strength in the battle 

Against such mighty foes

Bolsters us quite steadily

Against our own health woes.

So please know we love you 

And will hold you in our hearts, 

Until that day we see your face 

Nevermore apart.

So run ahead of us for now, 

Go quickly when He calls!

I know when we hear OUR names 

We, too, will be enthralled…

To behold our risen Jesus 

Swathed in glorious light;

We’ll never want to turn away, 

So glad we fought our fight!

Rest well, our dearest friend, 

In the peace that He provides;

Know that we can hardly wait 

To embrace on the other side.

Soul Singings by Jen Niemann

Unchanging hope for our beloved co-heirs with Christ

When all my labors and trials are o’er, 
And I am safe on that beautiful shore, 
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore 
Will through the ages be glory for me. 

(“O That Will Be Glory,” Gabriel, C. H., 1900)

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13 CSB).

We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those 

who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, 

and with the trumpet of God, 

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:15-17 CSB).

O that will be glory for me!
When by His grace I shall look on His face. 
That will be glory, be glory for me!

Unchanging hope in the resurrection

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us

to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

When, by the gift of His infinite grace 
I am accorded in heaven a place, 
Just to be there and to look on His face 
Will through the ages be glory for me. 

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials (1 Pet. 1:3-6 ESV).

Unchanging hope in our anticipatory grief, whether for ourselves or loved ones who are also in Christ

Friends will be there I have loved long ago; 
Joy like a river around me will flow… 

Yet just a smile from my Savior, I know, 
Will through the ages be glory for me. 

A playlist gift to sing our adoration to Jesus as we long to be home with Him

Singing about heaven and the new heaven and earth brings such hope to my heart. Like Jen, I miss my dearest sister in Christ who I sang goodbye to. Her homegoing to Him happened over twenty years ago. My heart aches to meet our five grandchildren who went home to Jesus with their earthly lives only in the womb.

But most of all, adoring Jesus in my personal longing to be home with Him, has been His sustaining grace when grief overwhelms. When losses heap up. When anticipatory grief looms larger than hope. He tenderly tells me what to do:

As we both sing to Jesus, may this week’s “homegoing” playlist be His gift as you suffer, in any grief or anticipatory grief the week holds. If this will help you too, sign up below and it will come to your email with my prayers and love:

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To read more of Lauri’s writing, you can use her devotional Bible study lament prayer journals: Praying God’s Blessings in Christ as We Suffer: Scripture Prayers for the Hardest Days, Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering, Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character as We Suffer, or Singing the Gospel to Job: Finding Hope in Suffering. In the Valleys of God’s Love is written for children aged 3-8, a perfect read for grandparents, parents, and children to share together, preparing them for suffering to come.

For Scripture devotionals, calming hymns, and encouragement from Lauri, click here for YouTube channel 

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