Body found...Could it be Heidi?

What is the first thought to go through your mind when you hear “Body Found in…”? Yesterday morning as I drifted through the living room to start my morning routine the news startled me to attention. “Body Found in Scriba”. Then it went to the next story. I collapsed to my knees with tears running down my cheeks.

“Dear Lord, Your Word tells us the Holy Spirit will pray on our behalf when we know not what to pray. I don’t know what to pray dear Jesus. My heart aches. My tears hot on my cheeks with a familiar burn returning to my eyes. Thank you Jesus for the body found. I pray that whoever it might be, for closure in this part of the journey for their family. Or could it be are family? Do I want it to be Heidi or no? If it’s not Heidi, then why not? Why Jesus…why? It has been over seventeen years Lord. Honestly, if it is the gentleman from Oswego or Sodus I rejoice in his discovery and pray for the family as they start the next stage of grieving. Could it be Carol Wood? I don’t know. As I pray for the family with similar feelings, there is this grief and envy within me, why not Heidi? How come you don’t wash her body to the surface? Why do some families wait a long torturous twenty-four hours while others wait years, if not decades? Why…I simply want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head. This isn’t NCIS Lord, Abby won’t have DNA results by morning and families won’t have answers either. Instead we wait, always waiting. Lord forgive my whiny and selfish dump on you. I miss my sister. I want answers. I am sick of waiting. Is the body washed ashore the answer to our prayers…or the prayers of another family? If it isn’t Heidi, does this mean there is hope she is alive? Of course not…or is there. Lord Jesus I lift all this anger, hurt, jealousy, love, thankfulness, hope, anxiousness, and worry to you. I will wait in the tender loving care of your arms. Waiting…why must we wait? If only life were like NCIS…Heidi’s remains would have been found and returned to the family…but this isn’t Hollywood, it is real life. We wait…we pray…we hope…we wait. Amen.”

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With God, anything is possible!
May God's Word encourage you today...
“Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” Psalm 31:24

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for and expect? My hope and expectation are in YOU!” Psalm 39:7

“But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.” Romans 8:25

“I will THANK YOU and CONFIDE IN YOU FOREVER, because YOU have done it (delivered me and kept me safe). I WILL WAIT ON, HOPE IN AND EXPECT IN YOUR NAME, FOR IT IS GOOD, in the presence of your saints (your kind and pious ones). Psalm 52:9

“But as for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him I will keep watch; I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” Michah 7:7

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him; and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song (my paraphrase – my writing and speaking) I will praise Him.” Psalm 28:7

In His name we pray...Amen

This is one turn, on the family of missing’s roller coaster ride of waiting, for their loved one to be found. News reports announcing “A body found” by a hiker is common in the spring as the snow and ice melts. Phone calls throughout the year to say, “There was a Jane Doe found in “x” and it might be Heidi.” And finally, this one forces one’s stomach to the ankles in seconds; the Sheriff’s undercover car pulls in the driveway and say, “Sorry to bother you, can we talk?” Ugh…we have experienced many of these situations but none of them have concluded with the words we pray to hear, “We found Heidi.” Someday we will…in God’s time.