The other day my two-year-old came running to me. He was crying with big tears running down his chubby cheeks. I picked him up and held him, rocking him and stroking his hair. Within a minute he was calm and stayed there with his head resting on my shoulder, comforted by his mama. It makes me think of God and the way He desires for us to run to Him in our sorrow.
Twelve years ago today I watched my earthly father take his last breath. I was twenty years old, still a baby. I ran to God in that time, weeping on His shoulder with big big burning tears. He held me.
The healing process takes a long time and the pain hurts less now than it did that day, but my dad’s absence still covers everything.
Maybe you’ve felt the sting of death. Maybe you feel it again with each milestone: your graduation, your wedding day, the birth of each child, every holiday, every anniversary. You mourn. And maybe you don’t yet feel the comfort of God’s loving embrace. Maybe you feel like He’s not even there.
I’ve been there. I’ve cried myself to sleep. I have questioned God’s goodness and wrestled with my faith. God reminded me of His presence through His Word, through other believers, through meals and cards and prayers. Even through grief counseling.
The truth is hard to hear when we’re hurting, when the wound is raw and runs deep. But here it is. He binds wounds and wraps them tight. He holds us as we kick and scream, as we sob and pound our fists. He strokes our hair and wipes our tears. Sometimes He does that tangibly through other friends and loved ones. We are NEVER left alone, even in our darkest nights. Sometimes you just have to look around to see that God has been there all along.
So like my baby ran to me, run to God. Seek Him and I promise healing will come, however long the road might be.
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