A Friend Like No Other

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.”

NEW RELEASE

Please join me in celebrating the release of Leading Effectively When Everything Says Quit. Just got my copies today. The book is available at Snowfallpress.com, will be on Amazon.com very shortly in book and Kindle format. Ask me about direct purchases and volume discounts ... laurenmyers339@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/lauren.myers.3994/posts/10201742254815636

Problems and Solutions - By Cec Murphy

Below is an excerpt from Cec Murphy's September Newsletter. He is someone I admire tremendously and I hope you too will be encouraged by his wisdom.

"Once we get through the next two months, things will be easy for us," I said to my wife four months before graduating with my master's degree. I owed money to the university, but by careful management we would have paid everything before graduation. The financial strain would be gone.

And it was. For a few weeks. Then our older daughter, Wanda, needed braces. Shirley's Dodge called for unexpected repairs, and we were cautiously budgeting our dollars again.

I wonder how many of us have made similar statements: "Once we get past this predicament" or "Just as soon as I start my new job." I'm too embarrassed to admit how often I said such words. I believed them, and in my naïveté I was sure life would go smoothly after that. After all, haven't we all heard, "For every problem there is a solution"?

Don't we like to believe that once we surmount this issue, things will flow smoothly? A few months ago, our pastor, Owen Stepp, twisted that by saying, "For every solution, there is a problem." That is, every resolution opens the door for a new quandary.

We do well to remember both sayings. That way we focus on the immediate difficulty while preparing ourselves for the problem that follows. Is it possible that God created life to work that way? First, we face a hardship, cry out for help, work through it, and relax. Then we have to encounter the problems that arose from the solution.

For example, when I left the pastorate to write full time, I found my solution for overcrowded days and nights was not quite enough sleep. I confronted new issues in my adjustment to lead the solitary life. I solved one problem only to have to stare at a new dilemma that required a resolution.

Isn't that how life functions? Accepting the two statements pushes us to work for the present obstacle and know we'll have other issues ahead. As a serious Christian, I believe I need those problems-to-solutions to keep me aware of my need for divine help and a greater dependency on God's faithfulness.

 

For every problem there is a solution;

 

For every solution there is a problem.

Both of them keep us growing.