Oh, What a Friend!

 

She walked slowly, uncertainly in direct contrast to the people hurrying, coming and going around her. As I drew abreast I heard a most definite sniff and so turned to ask if she was okay. Hardly pausing, she answered, “It’s my sister. Her baby just died.” For brief moments I matched her pace as fresh tears filled her eyes. What does one say in such a case?

“I am sorry, so sorry for your loss,” I responded. “This must be so hard for her …”

“Nine months and now this ... all the preparation …”

“Yes, I can only imagine how hard going home to the nursery is going to be. I am so sorry. I know this is going to be painful for your family.”

Not much more to be said. We walked on in silence for a minute or two before exchanging smiles, a pat on the shoulder, muffled thanks, and parting at the foot of the stairs.

I quickly sent up a prayer for the grieving mother and her family and fervently hoped there would be someone among them who knew the comfort Jesus brings.

What a friend WE (believers, those in a relationship with the Savior) have in Jesus! And how often we take that for granted. At our lowest ebb we can still rest assured somewhere hidden in the worst tragedy, are the ingredients to work things out for our good. Now I am not saying God causes horrid things to happen in order to bring good. Rather, he takes the bad that either comes to tempt us or the reverses that occur because we are still children of the Fall, and cancels the damage. In the end, every situation has redemptive value.

Much of this I don’t fully understand. Like you I am getting on-the-job-training. But every so often, the 20/20 look back happens. I am suddenly able to see the hand of God orchestrating every note of deliverance just when I thought the music in my life had faded for good.

You may have physical death in your family or a series of emotional deaths, each with their payload of grief. God is able, is with you, and promises “all [your] sins and griefs to bear.” Use your privilege as a child of the King, and take “everything to God in prayer.”