Joy in the Mourning (Summer Neely)

At the beginning of 2026, my husband and I decided the word of the year for our family would be joy. Joy is defined as a feeling of good pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who we are or what is happening around us. 

After the year we had in 2025, it only made sense that our word be joy. This would be our year to celebrate the good things in life. 

Six days after deciding on our family word, my world shattered. My poppa’s time on earth ended and he walked through the gates of heaven. 

As I sat in the hospital room with my entire family, held his hand as the life left his body, and cried as we mourned the loss of the greatest man we ever knew, everything around me seemed dark. I remember telling my husband, how was I going to make it through this. My heart was broken and I could feel myself sinking into the pit of loss. Into a darkness I had never experienced. 

Then I heard a voice whisper the words of Romans 8:18. 

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

The entire drive from Huntsville to Mobile, as I begged God to let me make it to see Poppa before he left, one song was on repeat. I kept listening to the Worthy by Elevation Worship. 

“Be exhalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place.” 

I prayed those lyrics over my family in that hospital room. I prayed it over myself. I wanted to feel the glory of God even as the shadow of death loomed. Because where our God is, the sting of death cannot be. 

The verse I heard reminded me that my hour of weeping, was Poppa’s hour of complete joy and restoration. This was not the end, it was the beginning. 

Psalm 30:5 says “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

The night Poppa passed was dark, but the joy that came with the morning was unimaginable. Poppa is healed, his suffering is over. And he gets to dwell in the joy only God can give forever. What a beautiful reminder of what I have to look forward to one day. 

“Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭13‬ 

When my mind wanders into the darkness, I picture my Poppa filled with joy as he walked into the arms of Jesus. I imagine him wearing his cowboy hat out in the meadows of heaven with some honeybees or in his garden. I see him and Nana drinking coffee and eating some of her pound cake. But most of all I see them standing in the presence of our savior.

Surrounded by the glory of God. 

And that…that is where my heart finds the joy only God can give me. That’s when my mourning and tears of sorrow turn into giggles and tears of joy. It’s the joy I never thought a loss like this would bring, yet here it is. 

Although my heart is still broken and I’m still grieving in many ways, I can confidently say there is joy in my mourning. There is joy above it all. 

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 A little bit about Summer...

I am happily married to Dustin (aka Neely) and a full-time working mom of a one-year-old. I serve on the church’s small group and creative teams. I love Target runs, baking when I can, and anything true crime. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego recently reminded me that God calls us by name and is with us, even in the fire.