God can resurrect and restore what you think is lost and dead
Melek Sert was five months pregnant when she went to the hospital with severe pain and bleeding. But then her bleeding stopped, and she was discharged from the hospital and returned home. However, the next day she and her husband Hasan went back to the hospital with the same complaint.
She was constantly monitored because of the risk of miscarriage. She ended up giving birth early but was told by the doctors her baby son was stillborn. She was given a death certificate and a small funeral bag by the Seyhan State Hospital in Turkey.
Hasan took the baby to the Herekli Neighborhood Cemetery to bury him. As Hasan drove to the cemetery, he began to hear the baby cry. He stopped the car and unzipped the bag. He took off his jacket, wrapped it around the baby and turned the car heater all the way up.
An ambulance came and the baby was taken to the Adana City Research Hospital and treated in intensive care. The baby was in critical condition with low blood pressure. But Melek saw that her baby was alive. His hands and feet were fidgeting, his heart was beating.
The couple were in shock. Their infant son born prematurely was alive not dead. They went from total despair to incredible joy.
Easter is a day of joy. It is the time to celebrate Jesus and proclaim his resurrection victory. Jesus lived 33 years and then was brutally crucified. He died on a Friday but was raised to life on a Sunday.
The resurrection of Jesus is a unique historic event. There is nothing like it, this is why billions of people will celebrate today. His resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. As the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:14, "If Christ wasn't raised to life, our message is worthless and so is your faith."
But Jesus was raised from the dead, and because of Jesus' victory over death and sin you can receive his grace and forgiveness. You can live in a personal relationship with God, experience his plan for your life, and spend eternity in heaven with him after this life is over.
God is in the resurrection business. He has been resurrecting what was dead in people's lives for thousands of years and he continues to do so to this day. God told Abraham he would be the father of an entire nation, yet his wife Sarah was too old to get pregnant. But at 90 years old her dead womb brought forth life and she had a son Issac.
Jacob was told his youngest son Joseph was dead and he mourned his loss for many years. Joseph had been sold into slavery but because of God's favor on his life he became the prime minister of Egypt. Years later Joseph would save his family from a famine and his father would see his dead son was alive.
Jesus told a story of the Prodigal Son who left home and lived a foolish, wasted life. He lost all his money and self-respect, so he decided to go back home in disgrace. But when his father saw him come home, he said, "This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found. And they began to celebrate."
Hasan and Melek thought their infant son was dead, Abraham thought his chance of having a son was dead, Jacob thought his son Joseph was dead, the father thought his prodigal son was dead and gone forever.
Is there something in your life you think is dead?
Maybe your hope of having a child is dead, your hope of starting a business is dead, your hope of being healthy is dead, your hope of finding your soulmate is dead, your hope of breaking your addiction is dead, your hope of discovering your purpose is dead.
When we experience the death of a dream it can feel as real as any death. When we hope for, pray for and work for a dream to become reality and it does not, it's like a death. We are left with shock, pain and grief. All appears to be lost. It seems like our life has no meaning.
But God has a way of restoring what is lost and resurrecting what is dead. You may think the dream is buried then God works in a way that is undeniable. He resurrects it.
You will love again, you will laugh again, you will live again. Because of Easter, hope is not dead – your dream is very much alive.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Celebrate Jesus' event set for Saturday, June 7, in Grand Forks
Jun. 5—GRAND FORKS — Families, friends and people of all ages are invited to participate in the "Celebrate Jesus" event Saturday, June 7, in downtown Grand Forks, said Joe Chine, coordinator. Part of a worldwide celebration taking place that day, the event will include a community walk, starting near Grand Forks Central High School, and ending with a worship rally at Town Square. Participants will gather at 10:15 a.m. in the high school's parking lot at the intersection of University Avenue and North Fifth Street. Beginning at 11 a.m., the walk will feature music, singing, vehicles, banners and signs. Several vehicles will display "Celebrate Jesus" banners and broadcast music as participants walk east on University Avenue and south on Third Street to Town Square. A wagon will be available for anyone who has mobility issues and would prefer to ride. "It's a fun, nice, easy kind of thing," said Chine, of Grand Forks. The rally, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Town Square, will include worship, fellowship, prayer, salvation opportunity and food. Scott Rhinehart of Grand Forks will serve as MC. Several speakers, including pastors, will offer encouraging words; prayers for the Grand Cities, the states of Minnesota and North Dakota, the U.S. and the world; and an opportunity for salvation and rededication, Chine said. "Prayer stations" will be available for individual prayer and counseling. The "Celebrate Jesus" event — held for the fifth time in Grand Forks — does not focus on or promote a specific church or faith denomination, Chine said, but rather is "an opportunity to praise the name of Jesus" in a family-friendly atmosphere. It is intended to bring together various churches, organizations and neighboring communities to exalt Jesus Christ "outside the walls of church and organizational buildings," according to the event announcement. "(The goal is to) foster a sense of community and shared faith, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to honor Jesus. The day is filled with joy, music, unity and fellowship that transcends denominational boundaries." Nationally and internationally, the event has been known as "March for Jesus," Chine said, and was first held in Texas in the early 1990s. In 2023, the local organizational team changed the name to "Grand Cities Celebrate Jesus" to better reflect "a more family-friendly, community-friendly" purpose, he said, but it remains part of the March for Jesus organization. The team includes members from about 10 churches, as well as nonprofit organizations and businesses. Funds for the event are raised through charitable donations, partnerships, church registrations and the sale of t-shirts and caps. Similar events are expected to be held in about 30 cities across the U.S. and in eight other countries, Chine said. Grand Forks and Bemidji are the only cities in North Dakota and Minnesota, respectively, to hold such a gathering. "It's really a unique event from a Christian perspective," he said, "but it's so difficult to get people to want to put in the time and effort, and get away from their comfort zone." Each year, "Celebrate Jesus" is held on Pentecost weekend in the church calendar. In the Christian tradition, Pentecost marked the birth of the church and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to all nations. .
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Father and daughter found dead on Maine hike were long drawn to mountain, family says
A New York father and daughter whose bodies were found on a mountain in Maine earlier this week had planned the hike while on a work trip. Tim Keiderling, 58, of Ulster Park, was found dead Tuesday in the Tablelands area on Mount Katahdin. The body of his 28-year-old daughter, Esther Keiderling, was discovered Wednesday afternoon about 1,000 feet away, between two trails off the Tablelands, Baxter State Park said. Tim was a father of six and a grandfather of two. He and Esther were very close, Tim's brother, Joe Keiderling, said. They both worked for Rifton Equipment, a New York-based medical supply company. "Tim was utterly unique," the brother said in a statement Thursday. "Many young men and women remember him as an elementary school teacher who could hold them spellbound with wildly imaginative stories and escapades in the woods and fields of the Hudson Valley he called home." In his free time, Tim enjoyed tending and growing fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries, and was a beekeeper. His faith was important to him, his brother said. Tim was a member of the Bruderhof Communities, a Christian community in which people share all their possessions, including money, its website states. "At church gatherings, Tim was a regular contributor, not only as a lay pastor but as a gifted storyteller, bringing life and vitality to familiar Bible stories and making them relevant to the issues of the day," Joe said. "At home, he was the consummate host and loved nothing more than lively conversation and a great laugh." Esther was quiet but "deeply sensitive," Joe said. "She loved reading and writing, with a particular fondness for the poets Gerard Manley Hopkins and Edna St. Vincent Millay," her uncle said. She kept a WordPress blog and wrote posts on the platform Substack. On Saturday, she wrote a post on Substack that she and her father were in Maine for a sales trip and had planned a hike, WMTW reported. She said she was "a little nervous" about the hike because of everything she had read about the Abol Trail, according to the news station. Joe Keiderling confirmed to NBC News that the pair had traveled to Maine for work for trainings for therapists on adaptive equipment for kids with disabilities. He said they decided to take a weekend vacation and "climb a mountain that had always attracted them." The park said the pair went missing Sunday after they left Abol Campground to hike the summit. The trail's difficulty is listed as very strenuous on the park's website. Water is limited after the first mile, and the trail is fully exposed after two and a half miles, it says. Authorities launched an extensive search Monday after their vehicle was found parked in a day-use lot. A park official said Thursday that the medical examiner's office will determine how the pair died. There is no evidence of criminal activity, the official said, and investigators are trying to determine why the bodies were found apart. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Samford University withdraws Creekside development plans amid environmental issues from Homewood community
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Samford University has withdrawn its applications and development plans for a once-upcoming development project. On Thursday, the city of Homewood announced that the private Christian college had paused its Creekside project, described as a 'livable town square' that would've been located across from its campus on Lakeshore Drive. Instead, Samford officials will 'focus on other construction priorities on campus' instead. 'Developers said there is no timeline for revisiting the Creekside proposal,' the city said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. Since the project was first announced, some in the community pointed to certain environmental concerns they had with the development, namely a salamander pond located on protected land near the property. 'It's not just trees and ferns and wildflowers, it's the animals that live in here, so we have turtles and reptiles and lots of amphibians living here, lots and lots of birds,' Henry Hughes, executive director of Friends of Shades Creek, told CBS 42's Maddie McQueen back in March. 'We really want to maintain the integrity of this forest and any development that takes place in and around the forest is always a potential problem.' A series of public information sessions were held in the city prior to the project being paused. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
