John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible.

Grief is hard. When I started to write a blog as part of our ministry, one of my hopes was that by sharing my story, others would find peace, grace, love and Jesus in their own stories. I promised to be real and I promised myself that I would not sugar coat things. Anyone who has lost someone they love knows that some weeks are just harder than others. I have had a hard week.

The books say there are 5 stages that a person goes through when grieving- if only it was that easy and sequential. “If I could just get through denial, then I could get to being angry, then I could bargain, then be depressed, then I could reach acceptance. Right?” Wrong.

There are still days that I wake up in denial- like if I do not actually open my eyes- Cale will still be here. Other days I wake up and thank God for the 15 years that I was able to be his mom here on earth and remind myself that I get to be his mom in heaven forever. Hallelujah! We all grieve in different ways and we never know when something will hit us hard or when something will bring us great joy.

Jesus let us know as he was standing at Lazarus’ tomb that is ok to cry, it is ok to weep. It doesn’t mean we are weak. It doesn’t mean that we have lost our hope. It doesn’t mean our faith in Him is any less. God gave us tears so that we could weep and mourn with each other. In the Gospel of John, it simply says, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). It is the shortest verse in the Bible, but for me, it is one of the most meaningful. It brings healing to my heart to know that Jesus weeps with us. He walked this earth as a human and he understands our pain. On March 27, 2017 I have no doubts that Jesus was weeping with all of us. I think He still weeps when He sees that we are having a particularly hard time.

In the Old Testament, when King Hezekiah knew he was about to die, he prayed and wept and God replied, “I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears” (II Kings 20:5). I know God hears our prayers and He sees our tears. He is with us.

I find great hope in reading God’s word about our tears. Revelation 21:4 tells us, God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” God is collecting all of my tears. He will wipe them all away when I make it to heaven. That’s pretty awesome.

Grief is so hard to understand. David says, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Have you ever wondered, “How can this sorrow, this heartache, this grief ever bring anyone joy?” We do not have to understand the how right now, because we know the who. God loves us. He knows our hearts. He knows why we grieve. So when we are having one of the hard weeks, we must cling to Him through our pain. We must give our grief to Him, because He will carry it for us.

God Bless you all. Jaci