Christine Hope

Jemima and I would like to thank everyone for the prayers, words of comfort and encouragement, and thoughtful deeds that everyone have given us. We’re overwhelmed with the support we’ve received and the love and sorrow expressed by so many for our little Christine.  From the valiant effort her doctors and nurses made to save her life to the heartfelt words of grief from people around the world, it shows that there are many who still care for the littlest amongst us.

We owe a special thanks to the kind doctors and nurses who served our daughter and us during our time in the hospital. Dr. E. worked so skillfully to give Christine a chance to make it, and every time we saw our dear child, Michele was faithfully at her side, carefully watching her vital signs, and with so much compassion in her eyes, doing what she could to help her live. Erin, Misty, and Talitha were fantastic nurses. They were each so compassionate and helpful. And there were others, too, whose names we can’t remember, but to whom we are very grateful.

But most of all, we are so thankful to our heavenly Father who gave us a such a precious little daughter who is now forever with her Creator. God is so good. As soon as we became aware of her presence with us, we committed her to God and asked for Him to be glorified in her life. Christine is now enjoying the presence of Jesus Christ, no more to suffer in this world.

And we thank God for sending his only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only hope of eternal life. It is only by Christ’s shed blood that we have forgiveness of sin and the hope (earnest expectation) that we too will spend eternity with him and see our little Christine again.

Our prayer is that God would cause those who hear of Christine Hope’s short life to look to Jesus Christ, the hope of glory. If you would like to read more and be encouraged with verses on hope in Christ or know how you can gain true hope in Christ, click here.

One of the reasons we named our daughter Christine Hope is that we want people to realize that there is hope in Christ alone.  People put their hope in so many things other than Christ. Many hope that the government or a political leader are going to meet their needs and make everything good. When it comes to eternal life, most have a hope that their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds and that they’ll make it to heaven through their own goodness, or they hope that a prayer, baptism, church, or religious devotion will earn them God’s favor.

Such objects of hope are hopelessly faulty. Governments and political leaders repeatedly prove that they are not the solution to our problems, although they usually want people to believe that so that they can get and keep their power. For those trusting in their own goodness to get them to heaven, they fail to rightly judge themselves by God’s standard, choosing to compare themselves with other people. God is perfectly holy and good; there is no sin in Him at all, nor can He tolerate it. His very goodness demands that he must judge sin.

How solid of a hope do those trusting in their own goodness have when Jesus said in Matthew 19:17 “…there is none good but one, that is, God…” and in Isaiah 64:6 that “…We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” and that even “the stars are not pure in his sight.” (Job 25:5)

Really, is there any hope in trusting in our sinful selves? How can there be, when our very best is filthy in God’s eyes? Many, many people recognize their own sinfulness and in turn put their hope in a church, or a prayer, or baptism, or other religious acts. But really, can things we do, or can a person or institution make us clean in God’s eyes? The word of God says in Psalm 43:5 “Hope in God.”

Consider these 4 problems that every person has:

(1) SIN. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Every person has broken God’s commandments. Just stealing one little thing and telling one lie makes a person a lying thief.
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way…”

(2) OURSELVES.  We love ourselves and our things and comforts, and our sin, more than we love God. The Bible says (Revelation 4:11) that all things were created for God’s pleasure. Why then do we spend our lives seeking our own pleasures and not caring what pleases Him? When God’s first commandment to us is “…to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength…” (Mark 12:33)?
We have more fear of looking good in the eyes of our fellow men than we fear the God who made us. Jesus said, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44)

(3) SATAN. “…The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not…”
(2 Corinthians 4:4)   We have a spiritual enemy who is real and uses whatever means he can to keep us from submitting to God. “…The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life…” (1 John 2:16) are the root temptations he uses to keep us loving the world more than God. He uses deceptions and lies, and false religions and ways of thinking that are opposed to His Word. Drugs and addictions are a common manifestation of Satan’s grip on a person. And even “good” looking things that aren’t really rooted in trusting in God, are one of his subtle ways of getting us not to hope only in God.

(4) JUDGEMENT. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die…” (Ezekiel 18:20)  “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)  Because of God’s justice, all sin must be judged with death. And not just a physical death, but a death that separates us from God forever in eternal punishment. It was said to the rich man who died and went to hell, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” (Luke 16:25)

The HOPE

So, is there hope for a sinful person deserving God’s judgement, who loves themselves and their sin more than God, and who has an enemy actively working to keep them from God? Yes, there is! There is hope in God’s mercy as shown forth in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! Through Him, God has solved all of our problems:

(1) SIN. “…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Cor. 15:3,4)
“…He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:26)
“…His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness…” (1 Peter 2:24)
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)
With the sentence of death upon us, God in his mercy and grace has provided a substitute for us, a sacrifice for our sin. He offers forgiveness of sin to all who repent (turn from their sin) and believe upon Jesus Christ with their whole heart. For those who truly believe on Jesus Christ and solely trust Him for their salvation, and not their own goodness, God gives them His righteousness. “…That I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:8,9) God justifies lost sinners because their sin has been paid for by the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who was without sin.

(2) OURSELVES. “…Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7) When a person is born again by the Spirit of God; He makes them His child. And He gives them a new nature and new desires. “…If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor 5:17)  “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”  Ezekiel 36:26
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…” (Col 1:21-23)

(3) SATAN. (Colossians 1:13) says that God has “...delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
When Jesus told Paul to preach to the Gentiles he said, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” (Acts 26:18)

(4) JUDGMENT. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23) “…We should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver…” (2 Cor 1:9,10) “…Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1)
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9,10)
“…ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” (Thessalonians 1:10)
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Thessalonians 5:9)

The Bible is clear – salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” (Colossians 1:27)

There is hope…and it’s in Jesus Christ, alone!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today! Read the Bible daily and obey what you read. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” (Isaiah 55:6)

All Scriptures are from the King James Version.

Christine’s burial service was so peaceful, and so precious. Josh’s dad, Don Courville,  gave a short message, talking about the reality of truly loving Christ, and he talked about hope: confident expectation.
Josh asked his dad to read Psalm 62:5-8. These are some verses that Josh and I had recently memorized together:

“My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him:  God is a refuge for us.”
The service was outdoors. We had  chairs set up under the trees just outside the graveyard where my (Jemima’s) grandma is buried. This is the cemetery my sisters and I used to walk to (it’s only a couple miles from my parents’ house) and we used to read the headstones, many of which are for infants, born around and before 1900. It’s ironic now, that I should come back here so soon to bury our infant daughter, but it’s comforting to have a place to lay her to rest that is so familiar to me. 

The sun was going down and the air was cooling off after a hot day, as we sat there under the trees, with the cicadas buzzing loudly, listening to the message, and singing hymns…Jesus Loves Me, The Solid Rock, and Safe in the Arms of Jesus. Josh’s dad also read the March 8 Evening selection from “Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening” devotional. Christine’s Uncle Jon sang “In Christ Alone”.

Our families have been so very good to us,  and so have all the friends and even strangers who have heard of our situation. A little girl who was there Wednesday evening looked up at me, and said in a voice that betrayed her shyness, (as if she would have rather hid behind her mom, but she was making herself say it), “I’m sorry that your baby died.”  The compassion of so many people, and their willingness to weep with us…the tears of her uncles and aunts as they stood around her little coffin…it all has meant so much to us to know how she was treasured, and wanted, and eagerly anticipated by so many people.
My dad had built a tiny wooden coffin for her (she was my parents’ first grandbaby), and several people had sent flowers…there were lots of little pink roses, and tiny bouquets…it was a very special farewell to a very special little girl.

In the words of King David when his own baby died,

“I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”  (2 Samuel 12:23)

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:

and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” -Ecclesiastes 12:7

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me,

though he were dead, yet shall he live:” -John 11:25

‘If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my

change come:

Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.

Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” -Job 14:14, 15

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there

are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 16:11

“She Came to us a Moment”

She came to us a moment,

Our precious, darling babe.

Then heaven came and claimed her,

How sad our hearts were made.

But heaven has crept closer,

It seems a bit of home.

Christine is in its portals,

Her little feet there roam.

One day we’ll clasp our darling.

We leave her in God’s care,

In company with angels,

No tears or sorrows there.

-Jennifer Rene Daniel

“With Tinier Than Baby Fingers”

So much tinier than “baby fingers,”

Even little nails that caught her parents’ gaze.

She, like a newborn kitten, arrived

With eyes not quite open to really meet their gaze,

And startled the doctors with breaths of air.

A nose too tiny to suction – as tiny as fair -

They loved her.  She was made in their image.

She had been the hope and cheer of their thoughts.

(And her aunts and uncles were all expectant, too!)

But her untimely birth bled and broke their heart!

And the little tiny one came bathed in tears!

She, as a daughter of Jemima,

Became a granddaughter of Job!

But she arrived to glorify God!

With tinier than “baby finger” she scolded me,

“Grandma, I’m not too tiny to glorify Him!

Remember John the Baptist in Elisabeth’s womb.

We were both in about the sixth month.

He looked about like me,

When his whole tiny spirit, soul and body

Was thrilled to be near the baby Immanuel.

And John leaped (almost danced) within the womb!

Joining, as his mother broke out in praise!

Grandma, imploring tiny fingers expressed,

Does your whole self delight in God?

See how babies do!”

(Later John, with his manly hands on prison bars,

And his soul in iron, too, in the trying of his faith,

Would doubt the Christ, and ask, “Art thou He??”)

But in the womb as a fetus, filled with faith!

And the Holy Ghost who overshadowed Mary’s womb

Had filled him in Elisabeth’s womb, too.

What amazing work of God on tinier than baby spirit!

Christine, with tinier than “baby fingers” you teach me!

She has underlined two Psalms for Grandma, too -

Psalm 39 and 139 with tinier than “baby fingers”.

“Lord, make me to know mine end

And the measure of my days, what it is;

That I may know how frail I am.

Behold thou has made my days as an handbreadth

And mine age is as nothing before thee;

Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

God exalts Christine Hope Courville born the morn of

August 15, 2010,

Who died the same evening August 15, 2010,

Comparing her age as similar

To her four grandparents of about sixty years.

Her single day of life did not reduce God’s thoughts of her.

He, too, loved the little one made in His image!

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.”

The tinier than “baby fingers”

Had touched the Potter’s Hand tinkering over her.

“My substance was not hid from thee”

“For thou hast possessed my rein”

“Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.”

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Those tinier than “baby fingers” pled

To please bloom within her mother’s womb,

(God’s marvelous building chamber.)

As the Old Hebrew word womb

Formed from the same word as compassion, fondle or love.

Or as the word ewe – the mother sheep.

A womb as a cradle of fluid protecting and rocking,

And ample for moving, for feeding, and breathing, and growing.

How gently in sweet comfort He knit her together as five months passed.

Then the birth morning with one or ten doctors attempting to help,

And later wrapping her in plastic for protection,

Poking needles to feed or to bleed.

Ouch! Even the gentlest human touch

Wounding her formerly moist, faintly there, skin.

God watched the tiny pained spirit.

Those little hands, perhaps, begging to return her spirit

To God who gave it.

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;

For I say unto you,

that in heaven their angels do always

behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

For the son of man is come to save that which is lost.”

The angels have gently carried her away from Momma

To Jesus who blessed the babes as their Mother’s brought them.

by Dorcas Ueland (Christine was her first grandbaby)

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong- they are weak, but He is strong.”

Those words always made me feel so comforted and safe when I was a little girl, and now that I’m a Mommy who can’t hold her baby, they comfort me again.  -Jemima

Christine Hope, forever safe in the arms of Jesus