Hurting

Monday is here and I’m taking a detour this week from sharing my personal journey.  I thought it was odd that my time to write was continually delayed last week.  Today, I understand.  I believe there is a different message for each of us. 

Usually my typical Monday is much like yours.  It is the start to a new work week and school week.  It is usually busy with meetings, catching up on things and starting new things.  Only today, my Monday looks different.  Although it started out with my usual Monday routine, it took a turn in many of the lives of people I care about.   

-A military wife and mom is anxiously awaiting her husband’s return home while she nurses her sick children back to health.

-A woman dealing with her husband’s addictions and raising three children finds out she has two aneurysms.

-A woman driving all night to reach the bedside of her dying father is awaiting news on his condition.

-A mom is trying to comfort her young children as they awaken in the night from nightmares no child should have.

-A single mom still healing from her husband walking out the door on their family, learns she has breast cancer.

-A woman’s divorce after 20+ years of marriage is finalized on her birthday.

-A beloved wife, mother, and grandmother passes away.

-A family sits in the Emergency Room with no answers for their loved one’s condition.

-A mom has watched another door close as she tries to get the services her special needs child needs.

It is heartbreaking isn’t it?  My heart hurts so badly for each of these people that no words suffice.  I have had to stop, pause, and remember.  I’m pausing to remember who God is in the midst of each of these trials, struggles and challenges.  You see while each of these people have hurts in common, they also have hope. 

Often the word “hope” is used in the same context as “wish.”  I hope it rains today.  I hope dinner turns out well.  But the hope each of these friends of mine hold is not a wish.  It is the true definition of hope from Webster’s Dictionary which means, “to expect with confidence.”  Their hope is in Jesus Christ.  And while the pain, confusion, and hurt is real, they each look to Jesus. 

I realize even in the light of Jesus the hurt is real.  I felt pain and hurt so deeply in 2009 from a devastating loss that I wondered if I could stay in ministry.  But that is where Jesus steps in.  We give Him our hurt and He becomes our comforter if we are willing to receive. 

So, today I stop, pause, and remember in honor of each of my friends’ hurts.  I pause and remember who our Jesus is.  And I pray for Him to meet all of their needs according to His glorious riches (which, by the way, are perfect).

Here are a few Scriptures me and ladies from my Women’s Leadership Team remember as we pause and remember who my God is.  I pray they encourage you today as well.

Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Hebrews 13:5, …God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Revelation 4:1-11, “After this I [John] looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

   In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
 "You are worthy, our Lord and God,
   to receive glory and honor and power,
   for you created all things,
      and by your will they were created
      and have their being."