Love Remains: "Grief From Life, Grief from Loss"
By Bettye Nicole
Life is filled with twists and turns. Twists and turns are so unexpected that if you don't cling to God's promises, you just may lose your faith. My name is Bettye Nicole and the last three years have been filled with disappointment but God has proved himself to be faithful over and over again. June 26th, 2015 was the worse day of my entire existence. I got up that morning expecting to see my sweet Bailey Nicole as I did every morning for the last four months. Instead of breathing in the air of life, she had succumbed to death. An unexpected death that was deemed SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Moments after discovering her is like a short film. A sad film that still pierces my heart today. Bailey died at 4 months and 2 days old.
She was one of my most precious blessings and in retrospect one of my greatest lessons. The ache that I felt in the season of grieving for her is indescribable. The loss of her brought on a pain that not only emotionally affected me but physically too. At some moments, I didn't think I could make it. Not only was I grieving her loss, but I was also grieving in life. My marriage of over 12 years had taken a turn for the worse and deep in my heart I knew that I was headed for divorce. Yes, I fought in prayer for many years but that gut feeling remained the same. I knew that I had to trust God and let go and so I did. I treaded the low valley of not understanding the why behind all the chaos in my life. The more I tried to understand the more confused I became. In this season as the tears flowed constantly from my tear ducts, all I had was God.
All I had was his word and the promises that he gave like Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. I did not know how things would work together for me but I stood on this truth. I also stopped trying to understand the "why" and instead focused on the "what". Lord, what is it that you want me to do with this pain? You see, God is the ultimate recycler. He will take ashes and give you beauty for it. He will take our pain and give us purpose. He takes our mistakes and gives us a message. I had to trust him with all of the above. I started Bailey's Dash Foundation in August of 2015. Within weeks of creating a Facebook, I had received over 15,000 followers. I shared, transparently, my grief with the world for months until my personal life came to be too much and I stopped posting all together with the exception of milestones. I began again but it was clear, that the Lord wanted me to not only share about Bailey but the other battles I was fighting.
So, I started writing and on August 16th, 2018 I released my very first book, Love Remains, "Grief From Life, Grief from Loss" Love RemainsGod has been so faithful throughout this journey. I have cried many tears but not all of them were from pain. Lately, it has been because of this joy that I have for overcoming what the enemy meant for evil. Though my life didn't go in the way that I planned, I trust daily that it is going just the way God had fore-ordained. I am forever grateful for it all. The twists and turns have allowed me to see God work miraculously in my life. Healing my wounded heart is the one thing that I am most grateful for. God is alive and he hears all of our prayers. All of them. If I can leave the readers with anything on today, it would be to trust God. No matter what it is that you are facing right now, STILLTrust God. He has promised to never leave or forsake you and His promises are true. When we are faced with hard times, we have two choices. We can become bitter or trust God and become better. I have chosen the latter.
God is not done with you yet and surely he isn't done with me. I admonish you to put all of your hope and faith in Almighty God and watch as he turns every test in your life into a testimony. Be encouraged, Bettye NicoleBailey's Dash Foundation
