Choosing to SEE - Mary Beth Chapman [79]
The three of them were looking at the lake when they felt someone approach from behind. It was the same little girl, still with no parents in sight. “I told you the best view was from the top!” she said. And then she skipped away . . . and they never saw her again.
32
October 4, 2008
Emily’s Smile
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:20–22 ESV
(Scripture on the front of Emily’s wedding program)
It was a beautiful, warm fall day. I couldn’t believe it: my firstborn girl was getting married! We had prayed from the time she was little that God would bring her the right man at the right time. And He had.
But then what we never could have imagined happened, and Maria died in the spring of the year we had thought would be so happy.
From the time Maria left us, Steven and I had said privately that we thought it would be healing for Tanner and Emily to proceed with plans to marry on October 4. But it wasn’t our decision to make.
On May 21, even as he wept and prayed and anguished, Will had told Emily and Tanner, “You have to promise me that you will still get married on October 4!” Will did not want Emily’s wedding to change . . . despite the tragedy of losing Maria.
As time went by, Emily and Tanner felt that our home was indeed the place to begin their union, and October 4 was the day to do it. They wanted to establish their new life together on that same holy ground where Maria had been taken to her eternal home.
Yes, our home was the site where Maria was accidentally hit by a car and left this earth . . . but even though that all-consuming, terrible thing had happened here, our home was also a place of powerful, happy memories. This was the place where God had met us time and time again; He had not been looking the other way on May 21.
So, less than five months after Maria suddenly went to heaven right from our driveway, our home was to be the site of Emily Elizabeth Chapman’s wedding celebration.
We missed Maria, and our hearts were sad . . . but we also laughed with the most powerful sense of joy, the kind of joy that thrusts its way right up through sorrow. We knew that something powerful was happening at our home on this day.
I know that Satan took a massive swing at our entire family on May 21 and thought he was going to destroy us for good. So October 4 was not just a good day, it was a victorious day! God overwhelmed us with a joy that eased our sorrow and allowed us to see that, out of this horrible story, there were redemptive pieces already being written by the Healer of all wounds.
Yes, we were devastated by our loss, but I know that the day we stood in faith and gave our daughter to be married, we defeated the Evil One. If by chance Satan does have a forked tail, I envisioned it tucked very uncomfortably between his gnarly legs.
On the afternoon of May 21, just before Maria passed away, Steven had been writing some beautiful instrumental music on a keyboard in our dining room. He’d planned a piece called “Sisters,” which would be played as the bridesmaids and flower girls walked down the aisle. He wrote another piece called “Emily’s Smile,” which would be played as Emily approached her groom.
That was the plan.
Now, so many dark days after the tragedy we did not plan, the “Sisters” music started to play. The wedding party walked out of our house, down the porch steps, and through the grass near our pond. After a pause, the “Emily’s Smile” music started and Steven walked his daughter through the green grass and toward her groom.
Tanner was beaming. Emily was beaming, feeling as beautiful as she had ever