Goodbye Aliya Joy (For Now)
"May the two of you hear in your hearts together the songs the angels sung upon the Lord receiving your child into His presence."
Those words were written to us from a friend, and they provided a beautiful picture for us on this little one's homecoming.
God gave Matt and I a sense of the child's sex (independently of one another) after we learned we had lost this baby, and I believe it was so that we could name this little one and honor this life. I prayed for the name to come, one that God had chosen. It jumped right out at us: Aliya Joy (pronounced "ah LEE ah"). Aliya is Hebrew and it means "to ascend; to go up." It was perfect. This child is now in heaven with the Lord, living a life free of sin and suffering. Today I read, "The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil" (Isa 57:1).
I praise the LORD that He has spared this little one from evils in this old world, and will rejoice to see her in heaven... for I know I will (see 2 Sam. 12:23). Another friend gave me a wonderful picture of how Jesus had comforted her when she miscarried her little boy:
Jesus gave me a vision/picture of Himself holding my son. He told me "I'll raise this one."
Who better than Jesus to raise our little Aliya? Praise be to His name.