Steven Curtis Chapman’s 5-year-old daughter Mary died in a serious accident on Wednesday. His brother is seen casually with the family SUV. Mary is one of three children that Chapman and his wife adopted from China. The death of this child happened just 10 days after his 5th birthday. The name of Mary’s brother has not been released, as reported by People.
On the 19th of Mayth I too suffered a tragic accident while walking through something very similar to that. I just recently walked the one year anniversary of my 6 year old son’s death. My son, Gaje Florence, was also hit by a vehicle in my driveway, as was Chapman’s daughter.
For me, getting through is something that is easy to do and there are moments in your life that you want to blame someone and at that moment, who will. I accused God, my husband, the lady who killed him, but myself most of all. I felt that I should have been more careful, and it so happened that I did not even see it coming.
Since they are Chapman Christians, we advise them to buy a book called Peri But Not Lost by David W. Wiersbe. This book talks about the emotions you are probably going through and the ones you are likely to feel. This book touches on many of the questions you will likely have about the death of a child.
Ignoring your feelings won’t make them go away, and it’s hard not to want to deal with a lost child. It still doesn’t seem right to me, and I feel like I’m standing still in the motion of time. Facing my emotions was something I never thought I could do. If you don’t recognize your emotions you could be heading for a nervous breakdown. Talk to your family, friends, or even the council, who will listen to you.
Ignore what everyone says including you. During this time no one knows what you are going through, and every person is different; People can say things that sound rude or even obvious; feeding into these comments will make you worse.
Questions that will appear to man will never be answered, and your faith will begin to slip away from you. Taking time to grieve and cry may seem like an endless battle but it will help you. If you feel the urge to cry out for the bottle inside, it only hurts more.
Take a moment to step back from life and remember the good times you had with your family. During a difficult time like the one Chapman is going through, it is difficult for a person to remember that there are others who need love and support. Everyone hurts differently and just because someone doesn’t show emotion doesn’t mean they don’t suffer too.
When time moves in your heart, your heart will still not be like your life, but I can tell you with experience that one day you will smile again and remember what your child was.
