Suffering

Warning! This blog post may get a bit sad and dreary!

I don’t know if it is from lack of sleep today, or just the weight of my thoughts, but I have been feeling very weary today. Do you ever have those days when you just want to soak up the sadness and feel like you need a good cry? Well today was one of those days…

For me, music has always been a staple. I find the greatest relief and comfort from the perfect song. And I probably have a song that reminds me of every high and low that has occurred in my life. I even created a playlist that I titled “Cry Mix” just for these occasions, which was perfectly fitting for today. 

But the sadness that was heavy on my heart today was not for me. During this journey I have thought a lot about how many people around me who do not know what I am going through or what I am feeling. We are so often caught up in our own worlds, oblivious to difficulties the people around us may be facing, even if we are aware of their sufferings. 

LatelyI have been trying to put myself in others’ shoes to try to better understand their pain.The woman who was kidnapped for 11 years and wrote about her torturous beatings. How could she possibly survive like that? How did she find the strength? Or the woman who’s blog I just read about losing her son slowly and painfully to cancer. How could she get through her day watching her child suffer and disappear before her very eyes? How could she find the strength to still see the good in the Lord and in the pain their family is going through? I witness parents every day at work who have watched their children struggle day in and day out with no ability to comfort them. How do they find the strength?

My heart aches for these strong souls. I can’t even to begin to fathom what they are going through. The suffering is all around us, no matter how big or small. 

But somehow God can carry us through and give us hope. I am still awed at how He can bring us out of the deepest darkest pits. How He can carry us through pain that seems unfathomable and give us the strength we need. No mountain is too small for our Lord to conquer.

In my quite time I have been reading through the book of Job and I feel weary for him as he cries out to the Lord. Job even felt so low that he questioned the Lord and His presence in his suffering. Proof that even the strongest of faith may find themselves here. Yet Job’s friends questioned him in his right to challenge God so boldly with this accusation. 

I fear a pit so low that I would question God’s absence when I need Him most. Through my journey I have found the most comfort in knowing He is near. I too have questioned the Lord why, for He knows my feelings, my thoughts, and my heart’s darkest secrets. But I find clarity in exposing myself to Him so that He can show me the way out of the dark.

Father- Today my prayers is for those who are suffering. That You Lord can give them the strength they need to not let these pits swallow them up. We know no one understands suffering like You. No one understands each and every individual’s sufferings as great as You. Help them to not become so weary they lose hope and to find a way to trust in You with all their heart. And Father I pray that You would put it on our hearts to pray for our brothers and sisters and remember to acknowledge what it may be like in their shoes. Thank You for those you have placed in our lives to help comfort us and give us hope in the midst of our suffering.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Here's someone God placed in our lives to share all the joys and heartaches. How could you resist that face!?