To the mamas and daddies in really hard places:
When you find yourself in the midst of the unthinkable. In the hospital rooms. In the fight. In the dark spaces.
My heart cries out.
I am praying.
Although those words feel inadequate in a moment like this, I know our God is almighty and all-powerful. His name is Healer. I also know, all too well, that this world is just cruel and hard and things don't always go how I want them to.
Where is God in all of this?
He is in the space between, filling all the voids. He is in the breath of a new baby. He is in the sparklle of a toddler's eyes. He is the peace in the soul of a dying child.
He is in the fight in the heart of the father. He is in the inconsolable weeping of the mother.
He is.
He was.
And thank goodness, He is to come.
Because this world is full of unjust suffering. It is full of sorrow. It is simply unfair.
But the Lord promises so much more. Soon that time will come. When all these wrongs will be made right. When the suffering will be replaced with uninhibited and thorough joy. When all sadness and hunger and pain will be redeemed. Redeemed, complete, perfected.
Photo credit: Lindy Belley
I don't understand the suffering, but I know that Jesus is near. I know His heart aches. I know He holds these precious babies close. I know, because I've been there. I've felt His embrace. I've known that kind of peace. I've been in that room, with my dying child.
And I met Jesus there. Or rather, He met me, right where I was, right where you are. Among the tubes and wires and machines and blood. He is there. He is with us in the messy. The dirty. The scary. The unimagineable.
He is with us in the pain. The suffering. The grief.
He is with us in the joy. The beauty. The breath.
and He never leaves.
I think sometimes our eyes are more open to Him in the pain. Our ears are more prone to listen in the suffering. our hearts are softer in the grief.
Because we beg for Him. We want Him. We need Him in a new way. And He wants us close. He draws us near. He longs for us to come to Him.
So, now in this moment, when "all we can do is pray". Well, friends, maybe that is all we are supposed to do. Talk to our Savior. Cry out to Him. Acknowledge the Creator and Sustainer of life.
And we will do what we are meant to do all along. We will glorify our God with our lips. We will praise Him with our tears. We will thank Him for the gift of life.