Comfort, Come Quickly

Today my heart is full and sad, but not in despair.

 

I have a friend.  A beautiful woman who loves to love large.  That's just how big her heart is.

 

Today my heart breaks for her. 

 

It breaks because today she shared her pain with me.  It's been about four years since her husband died.  Quietly, in his sleep, while in his homeland he was taken home to be with the Lord.  She never shed a tear at his funeral, she says, because God had given them such a rich full life together.  Married while very young and together for twenty-five years, their marriage was beautiful, she says.  It wasn't void of arguments or disagreements as any good marriage has and was filled with laughter, practical joking, taking in children in need, travel and from what I gather much more laughter.

 

So she never truly grieved.  Until today.  When the floodgates of emotion were opened and her need to be real, to be honest, to be transparent about where she's really at came out.

 

I cried with her, I listened to her, I prayed with her, I held her tight.

 

So today I am thanking God for my family.  I am thanking Him for my husband.  I am asking forgiveness for the times I've said, "God - that man YOU gave to me..."  Sound familiar?  That's just the same prideful, sinful accusation Adam gave God just before they were banished from the Garden of Eden as a result of their sin.  Not sounding familiar?  You can check it out in Genesis 3 - the first book of the Bible.

 

Since the beginning of time, God has been in the business of making the sad things come untrue.  I know He will do this for my sister in Christ.  And I know that as she trusts in Him and surrounds herself with people who love her and love God she can make it through.  I know this because my God - the God of Heaven and earth and all that is in it, has promised to never leave her nor forsake her (http://utmost.org/the-never-forsaking-god/).

 

And for this I am thankful.

 

Comfort, come quickly for my sister.