butterflies and new life

My best friend, Kala, surprised me with a beautiful package a couple weeks ago, for Bereaved Mother's Day. I opened it to find a necklace that I will now cherish always. The necklace just looks like it was made for me. This is what Kala wrote:

Dearest Hannah,

I saw this necklace and immediately thought to get it for you. Don't forget to open the locket. I have anointed it's inside with the Lily of the Valley oil. I wish I would have had it for her birthday, but friends never really need a special occasion to give a gift from the heart. The necklace was perfect even down to the butterfly charm dangling close to your heart, that would tell of new life each time it catches your eye. In this case, a special and sacred new life, the kind that never ends and rests always in the hope of life, of love.

Thank you so much for this, dear Kala! How thoughtful and sweet to anoint the inside with Lily of the Valley oil. I carry the fragrance of her life with me always. My world is colored with her life. I have my necklace with Lily's footprints on it, but am so thankful to now have something that honors both my babies. I plan on wearing this beautiful piece on each special day...Mother's Day. Christmas.

I carry my sweet babes with me each day, but they are especially on my heart on those days.

Kala wrote Lily and Luke inside of the locket. Along with their names, I wear the beautiful butterfly around my neck...symbolizing that I am born again in Christ. He makes all things new. He makes all things beautiful, in His time.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time..." ~Ecclesiastes 3:11

My old man is dead, and my new man is alive in Christ. Lily and Luke were a part of that transformation. When Jesus brought beauty from ashes and light from the midst of my darkness...just as a caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly. He redeemed me and made me a new creation, by His blood.

Butterflies now hold special significance in my life, just as lilies do. They also remind me that my babies have LIFE in Jesus and will be eternally safe in His loving arms. From my loving womb to His loving arms. Their bodies are whole and complete. They are new creations. Perfect. Always.

The following is a quote from the Duggars, written about their daughter, Jubilee Shalom, who was born into Heaven in the fall of 2011. It brings me peace when I think of my own sweet babies, born into Heaven.

"She is the quiet, gentle, and peaceful picture of new life leaving the cocoon, taking flight to Heaven."

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!" ~2 Corinthians 5:17