Questions

This week we got some terrible news. Some dear friends of ours lost their infant son, precious Johnathan. Such a beautiful couple, such a beautiful and loved baby... there are no words to comfort or help this situation. It literally makes the heart hurt.
While knowing that God is sovereign, come question after question fills my head... Why him? Why them? Why do things like this EVER happen? Where is God in this?? How does one begin to cope? What can we do to reach out and show love and support?? Why do some incompetent parents get many healthy children, and the good ones have to go through this?? What now??
All of these things have plagued my mind over the last two days.
There is an element of guilt in these types of things too. Recalling all to well the days and nights of frustration, the times I have wanted a break, a vacation from my kids, the times I wanted my freedom back, even just for a day... Though these feelings usually resolve with me knowing in my heart there is no other way I want it, the fleeting feelings exist. While there is no sense in beating myself up, my own focus has shifted- quickly.
While the above questions do not have answers, and will never make sense, I did read this in my Our Daily Bread Devotional a few weeks ago. It stood out then, before this- as I have another dear friend in my life who has lost a loved one... and the "realness" of it touched me. I will copy it in... and pray that our friends will, in time, have a Measure of Healing...

When I asked a friend how she was doing 4 years after the sudden death of her husband, she said, “I feel I am healing. Tears tend to burn my eyes rather than pour down my face. To me, that is a measure of healing.”

How fitting are those words to describe the changes that happen as the years pass for grievers who have endured an unexpected loss.

Scripture promises comfort in our suffering (2 Cor. 1:3-7), but that help does not come all at once. In fact, from what I have heard, our desired healing may not arrive completely in this life. This is what others tell me who are further down the road of grief than our family is, 6 years after losing our teenager Melissa. In the midst of our pain, we entrust our lives to God’s sovereign direction, but we also realize that gnawing sadness will always reside in our hearts.

Indeed, God has promised that He will wipe away all tears in heaven (Rev. 7:17), but until then the healing will be incomplete. Grief lessens but does not dissipate. The psalmist said that while God’s Word gives life, there is still the combination of “comfort in my affliction” (Ps. 119:50). Even in life’s toughest circumstances, we can, with God’s help, enjoy a measure of healing. — Dave Branon

I have been through the valley of weeping,
The valley of sorrow and pain;
But the God of all comfort was with me,
At hand to uphold and sustain. —Anon.

The God who washed away our sins will also wipe away our tears!