On this date last year, we found out the news that Lazarus had stopped growing.

I can’t believe at how radically different our life situation was, just one year ago: I was still in grad school at Southern Seminary, Heather was still pregnant the first time, we lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Now, I am done with school and working for Lincroft Bible Church. Heather is pregnant a second time. And we live in Jersey.

The first Scripture we read after the news was found in a John Piper Devotional:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
For His mercies never fail; They are new every morning.
—Lamentations 3:21-22

I can’t even describe what those words meant to us during that time. They were the hardest words in the world to read at that point, but also the words we exactly needed.

God’s mercies are new every morning.

Sometimes, they’re just severe mercies.