Hope Reager - Death of Her Son

<p>Hope Reager - Death of Her Son</p> <p>Hope Reager is the founder of Grief 2 Hope, a group she facilitates in memory of her son, Justin Cole Mapp who at 19 lost his life at the hands of his roommate.</p> <p>There are few conversations more difficult than talking with a mom who has lost a child.</p> <p>Hope was so gracious and genuine that it eased the conversation….I couldn’t help but think that when she was named Hope, they spoke something enduring over her life.</p> <p>You’re going to hear her heartbreak but you will also hear her joy and sense of humor rise to the surface. Maybe you’ll hear what I heard, the qualities of hope: optimistic about the future, focused on the best in other people, accepting of change, engaged in life.</p> <p>One of the moments that really got my heart and it was because God’s not always focused on what we’re focused on. He cares for us on such an intimate level that we can miss what He’s doing but I don’t think Hope missed it.</p> <p>We were talking about guilt associated with her son’s passing in the context of the young man who killed her son pleads self-defense and there is no trial. Hope has not only laid her son to rest but she now has to lay down any need or desire or really, a right for justice to be done for her son. I’m then struck by the fact that a derivative of Justin is Justus, meaning just, fair, righteous. And it would appear that he didn’t get that. </p> <p>But Hope chooses to rest her heart on the fact that God will take care of that. God's concern and care is focused on her. Because She feels that God spared her not only from a potential lengthy trial and reliving the details over and over but also when God doesn’t pave the way for a trial He also spares her from dodging any guilt she might have. What I mean by that is, when we’re grieving something there always seems to be a degree of regret or guilt.</p> <p>A trial would have given Hope a target to focus on but it would have also delayed her need to process one the most painful parts of loosing someone