Comfort in Suffering

 Once again Jamie Erickson's book Holy Hygge has deeply moved me.  This time it was chapter 5, dedicated to Comfort the one that touched my heart.  It is not comfort as in being physically at ease in your favorite chair or having enough money in your bank account to not have to worry about expenses.  It is comfort as in easing/soothing one's feelings of distress, pain and grief.  Needless to say, it was a profoundly challenging chapter to read and digest.

If you have never lost anyone close to you yet, please make sure you go and give all your beloved a big hug and a kiss, and tell them you love them.  At least, send them a text or give them a call...because we never know when the crushing claws of grief may grab us, threatening to rip our hearts and souls to pieces.

Topics about loss, suffering, pain and grief are way too gut-wrenching and often make us very uncomfortable given the raw vulnerability that such hurt typically leaves in our core.  Depending on our personalities and on our individualities, bringing up this topic can be just plainly difficult.  Many of us avoid it because it is too much.  Many of us don't want to expose our wounds.  We try to move on, but in reality, the wound is not healed regardless of how many years have passed.  My Dad died almost 11 years ago and I still have a hard time talking about it.  Fifty years is not long enough to soothe the heart of a mother who lost a child.  Twenty two years is but a vapor for someone who left things unsaid to her Mom before she passed.  Thirty years carrying the regret of not saying one last "I love you," to the spouse who left this world in a hurry is not sufficient to appease the mind.  It's just not an easy thing to talk about openly.  It's too heavy...

I believe, however, that healing is possible on this side of Heaven.  It might not be complete and full, but enough to allow us to live the rest of our lives with our eyes on eternity and our feet on the ground.  But, how? I think the way to healing is Hope.  Like I read in the devotional, Our Daily Bread, "Biblical hope is much more than mere optimism; it's an absolute certainty based on God's promise, which He will never break." 

We go back to Scripture and we find comfort in the confidence that Jesus' words are true!

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14: 1-2

We read about His promises in Paul's words,

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-14

And again, we read what Jesus says:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3: 16

And we realize that "hope is a golden cord connecting us to heaven. This cord helps us hold our head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting us." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young) We find His promises in the Bible and we cling to them with the confidence of someone who trusts that His word is true, and that His love is real.  That is Hope...that is the Hope that heals the wounds caused by loss.  We surround ourselves with the Word and with those who believe in His promises, our brothers and sisters in Christ and together, holding each other, walking shoulder to shoulder, leaning on each other, carrying each other, we discover joy again...the joy that Hope brings.  Hope helps us remember that the "road we're traveling together is ultimately the highway to heaven." (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young) And we don't walk that road alone.

May God's word penetrate our mind, body and soul so we can cling to the Hope that is the Person of Our Lord regardless of our circumstances, our loss, our pain, our grief or any of the bumps on the road.  Amen!