Here it is Thanksgiving, and what a great time we had planned! Sarah bought the turkey. We had twenty five people invited to her house for Thanksgiving. Each one of us was to bring something to contribute to the dinner. It may be loud and crazy at times, but we all love to get together and celebrate the holidays. When it comes to entertaining, Sarah has the knack. There is something special about her house and the love that is exchanged there that brings so much joy to all who visit.
Well….this year has been a bit different. Sarah just recently found out that she was expecting baby number five. She was looking and feeling great and she was ecstatic about the addition of another child to the family. Frankly, I’ve never seen her happier! Most people would be scared to death at such an undertaking, but when it comes to mothering, there is nothing that Sarah loves more. Sarah and Chuck have a great marriage and the thought of adding another baby to the family just made them happier!
Two days before Thanksgiving, Sarah started spotting. She went to the emergency room and they did the necessary bloodwork, and an ultrasound and showed her the baby, but they couldn’t find the heartbeat. They said that maybe it was too soon to hear it yet. She was to come back the following morning to do more bloodwork. All the time, she continued to spot. We prayed, and prayed! Friends prayed from far and near around the clock to lay hold of our faith in the God we all know and believe Who hears and answers prayer. On Wednesday morning, Sarah called me in tears, crying her heart out, “Mom, I’ve lost my baby!”
What does a mother say to her daughter about something like this? I’ve always been there to put a band-aid on all of her boo boos, but this time was different. This time, a simple band-aid won’t mend the deep wound that she is carrying from the inside out. Only a mother could understand the depth of such a loss, an emptiness, the loss of a child growing inside of your own body, so close to your heart and soul.
Of course, we cancelled the dinner. Sarah needed to rest, Now, here it is the day after Thanksgiving, and she has Strep Throat. She will get through this, and yes, I’m almost positive that there will be more babies, but what about today? How do you get through such trying times?
What about you? What do you do when life just doesn’t make sense? When you’ve prayed, served, loved, and believed the bible and had a faith in a God, Who, at this time, no matter how hard you want to hold onto your faith, seems a million miles away?
What do you do when everything was going perfect, so perfect, that it almost seemed too good to be true? You had to pinch yourself to really see if it was happening or if you were just dreaming? Then, all of a sudden, the bottom falls out! The crisis hit and shakes you to your knees! The life, as you’ve always known it, has shifted, and you wonder how you could ever recover from such a loss!!
Maybe, your spouse, the love of your life, has just passed away. It was such a shock! There was no warning. It took you completely unaware. You had so many wonderful plans for your future and believed you would grow old together.
Maybe your child, who has been battling depression and bullying, and drug addictions, decided to take his or her own life.
Maybe your home that you have loved and lived in for many years was just foreclosed on. The money was just not there when you needed it.
Or maybe, you’ve been hit with the devastating news of a cancer diagnosis, or some other illness. How will you come through this one?
Where is God in all of this? What do you do when God doesn’t make sense?
Didn’t He hear all of the prayers? Didn’t He see you pacing the floors at night?!
Didn’t He hear the cry of your heart and see the tears rolling off of your cheeks and dripping off onto your pillow?
As I’ve been through some hard times of my own, I’ve been pondering over these same thoughts and questions and I wanted to be very candid and real with you. Because I speak mainly of hope and encouragement, and I truly believe that a positive attitude is crucial, I want you to know that it’s not always perfectly peachy and rosy with me either. I’m not speaking to you from one who has never suffered loss. I know what it means to be faced with a cancer diagnosis, and many other problems in this life, but I have found comfort in my God, and I want to share that same comfort with you.
First of all, God does love you and He loves those that you love. In fact, He loves them even more than you do. He is not a mean God. He never sends bad things on His children. He cares so very much. I love in the bible, where it says that He even wept when Lazarus died. Can you imagine that?! The God of the universe wept at the death of His beloved friend! He knew He had the power to raise Lazarus from the dead, but He still wept. I believe, because, He cared so much about all those who were weeping. He is your greatest friend, during the hardest times of your life. He is your Comforter. Run TO Him in these hard times, instead of running away FROM Him. He can comfort you like no other one can. This is the time that our faith really must kick in and we need to cling to it all the more. In the hard times, when we don’t understand, we must hold onto our faith and never let it go! There are some things in this life that will never make sense and they never will until we see Jesus face to face, but I have a feeling, that then, it won’t matter any longer, because, then, everything will be okay. You see, God sees the whole picture. He sees things that we could never grasp in our finite minds. Right now, we must come to Him as a little child, and simply believe. We must relinquish everything to Him and let all of our questions and concerns slip through our grasp, and let them go. He will carry you through these hard times. It is a choice that each one of us is faced with. Are we going to get angry at God, and become bitter at life and everyone in it, until it is like a poison flowing onto us and consuming everyone we know?
Or are we going to give it all to Jesus, the One Who knows us and loves us during life’s most challenging times? He knows it won’t be easy, but He asks you to trust Him, and He will see you through, one day at a time, until that final day when He will wipe away every tear. He is a good, good, God, Who is full of joy, peace, and love. He can restore you once again, and give you beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning. Run to Him today. Sit on His lap. Tell Him what you feel, and let Him hold you close to His heart. He longs to hold you and to restore you once again, one day at a time. He said He will never leave you, or forsake you. Even though nothing makes sense, never doubt His word. He is in control and He never goes back on His word. Get it deep in your heart today, because it is life to your soul!!
Pray for an unshakable trust that will sustain you in life’s most challenging times. God’s mercies never fail. They are new every morning. He is compassionate to all He has made and He is a faithful God, Who never goes back on His word. One day everything will make sense, but I’m asking you, today, to do what I am going to do. Trust your God. He loves you so much and He will never ask you to walk through anything alone. Read your bible for yourself, and ask God to open up His word to you. Read it and then, believe it. It is medicine to the soul and the answer to every problem that you will ever face in this life.
What I loved most about the story of Lazarus in the bible, is at the end, when Jesus, told the people to take off the grave clothes and let him go. We can apply that same teaching to our lives as well. Maybe you’ve been in a prison of your own for quite some time. You’ve been angry at God, and everyone else. You’ve been in depression that you feel you could never be set free from. It’s time, now, for you too, as well, to take off the grave clothes, the anger, depression and bitterness, all of the weights that have been pulling you down for so long. It’s time to give God all of the unanswered questions and simply trust Him, even in all of this. This is when you will see healing come and you will be set free to live the life that He so earnestly wants to give you!
John 11: 33-35
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him, he asked?” he asked. “Come and see Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.
John 11: 43
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”