About the Author

Now graduated from her role as a homeschooling mom of 8, Dawn Camp devotes her time and love of stories to writing her first novel. She enjoys movie nights, cups of Earl Grey, and cheering on the Braves. She and her husband navigate an ever-emptying nest in the Atlanta suburbs.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Dawn, my heart if full for you. I know this all to well. It will be seven years this June without my mother. I had to learn to lean hard on Him and let His strength be mine when I had none to give.

    Thank you for sharing your heart. For the reminder.

    • “I had to learn to lean hard on Him and let His strength be mine when I had none to give.” — Chelsey, you summarized it so well.

  2. beautiful post. thank you for sharing. I’ve not lost my mother, but I did have a traumatic birth of my only child and the only one I wanted there was my mom.

  3. Dawn: I’m in that season of feeling the pressure of the world and your post reminded me of the beauty of my sweet daughter (the unplanned child, the one who made us think God may be a bit insane) born 6 weeks after my father’s death and with his eyes. A child of divorce I was raised by my father, he taught me love and I wasn’t ready for him to go. Every time my darling Meredith looks at me, I can look back at him and when she laments not having met the grandfather, we all tell her, God took him and gave us you; you with the gift of his eyes, not only the clear blue striking eyes, but the all seeing eyes, eyes with physical vision beyond that of normal humans and eyes that see into the soul and sweet lips that allow God’s word to come from you to us in times when we need direction or comfort. Thank you Father for my father and for my father in my daughter. All loved by me because first you loved me.

    • Ruth, what a blessing your daughter was to you at that time, and how wonderful that she’s there for you as a beautiful reminder of your father.

  4. Thank you for this. I lost my mom 10 years ago this July. It still hurts…in fact it hurts even more now, which I never expected. This morning i woke up feeling anxious about losing my dad as well. He is fine and healthy, but I suddenly became very scared at the thought of losing him too. This was the perfect thing to read this morning.

    • Heather, I’m so glad this was a help to you. It helped me deal with the anniversary of my mother’s death again just writing it.

  5. I loved it. It showed ur heart, it showed ur pain, it showed your faithfulness. I love you and am so thankful I knew Sister Judy. Her wit, her charm, her fiesty self! She touched our lives and I love how you keep her in our conversations even today. She is missed…but you are here for us to love….

    • Michelle, thank you for always being here for me, for understanding. I’m thankful for friends like you who remember and loved my mother, too.

  6. I lost a child and understand the grief and the loss and the why me’s…..And then too…..I am overcome by the love of God and the peace that He has given me to cope with the emptiness. He fills the void that nothing or no one can ever fill. I find comfort in the hope of heaven, a place where ALL wrongs will be made right:) Thank you for this sweet post! What a lovely reminder today that I am loved.
    Blessings,
    Kelli

  7. Thank you. Perfect reminder of the perfect answer to any question, puzzlement, or heart ache.

  8. Thank you for this encouragement and these reminders today:
    “I cannot outlive Him.
    I cannot outlove Him.
    He will never leave nor forsake me.
    And it’s enough. It will always be enough.”
    Last year, I turned 25 and I lost my father at age 60 due to cancer. His death happened 2 weeks after my daughter’s death; she was a little over a month old and passed away due to a ‘random’ chromosomal disorder. A little over a year later, I struggle to understand their losses and in such quick succession. A military wife facing my husband’s first deployment where he will be gone from me for 12 months and experiencing our second pregnancy (baby due in August while my husband is gone) that is coming with its fears of having another baby with another chromosomal disorder, I struggle with understanding God’s plan for my life often. Some days the the things I know to be true about God don’t feel like “enough” – but I know they are, and I need the reminders. Thank you. God Bless.

  9. As I opened my mail today and read this, I was touched by your pain. Just reading about why would you have 8 children and then lose your mom, moved me.
    I lost my Dad, my Mom, and my brother, all within the space of 5 years. It was and still is painful. I miss them. I think of them and the void doesn’t go away.
    But you are right, our heavenly Father is always there. That brings much comfort. He has been a faithful friend in all of this.

    Thank you for writing so honestly and beautifully.

  10. Thank you so much for sharing this. I feel better knowing I’m not alone in these feelings. The end of this month will mark my second year without my mom, whose funeral was exactly two months after the birth of my 10th child. Oh yeah. I can so relate. While I was in shock at her loss and wondering how to manage without her, I also realized that having Sweetpea helped me so much. I couldn’t curl up in a ball and stay in bed and refuse to eat and all the things that seem so natural in grief. I had someone depending on me for care and sustenance. I had to have enough food and enough rest to produce milk. I had to stop sorting and packing Mom’s house long enough to sit and rock the baby and feed her throughout the day. So while I questioned the timing of blessing me with a child two months before my mother went home, I realized that He sent a gift to carry me through and show His love.

    • Terri, you are so right. One of my daughters was six months old when my mother passed away. She and I moved in with my parents for the last three weeks of my mother’s life. Caring for a baby in that situation is everything you said: it forces you to reach beyond your grief and put the needs of that child first. I’m thankful we both had these sweet babies when we lost our moms.

  11. Thanks for sharing. This June is five years without my Mom and my Dad passed Feb. 1. It was during a blizzard and we couldn’t get there. I think he chose it way though – still trying to take care of us.

    Grateful for the One who is constant in my life.

  12. Thank you for sharing. For reminding me of how sweet and precious life is. And especially how great life is with Him.

  13. “I cannot outlive Him.”

    Those words stirred my heart especially. I understand – yet never thought of that when death has stung so hard. I lost my mom in 2004 – 7 months later my 16 year old son in a home accident. Two years later we had our youngest son (our 12th child) – very much unexpected because our marriage was also hitting the pits. But God new – and brought us a new little life – a healing, joyful balm for our family. I fear losing another child . . .

    but yes, none of us will outlive Him. What a promise of hope!

    Thank you for sharing. ~ Loni

  14. Thank you, Dawn. Words for my heart.

    I lost my dad two months ago. Last week I was at Children’s Hospital with my 8-month-old for a 12-day fever no one could explain. (Praise God my Elias is fine, now!) But in the midst of the pain I was feeling for my son, I was feeling my own pain…how could Dad be gone? Shouldn’t he be calling me? Checking in for updates? Saying he’s praying?

    Learning that Jesus’ comfort being real doesn’t mean that there will be no pain.
    Learning to lead harder on my Lord.

  15. Love this Dawn….we are marked forever by the ones we love….their presence lingers across the vastness and depth of our memories….so firmly imprinted across our hearts and souls.