When Things Are Awful

My mom has suffered another compression fracture in her back from osteoporosis, and she now has pain when she moves or coughs, and sometimes for no reason at all.  The pain isn't constant, and for that I'm grateful.  She is able to rest, but she is often uncomfortable.  She is 95, has been in nursing home care for 3 years, and is in her 15th year as an Alzheimer patient. 

I've struggled this afternoon with grief and tears for Mom and for myself. When I asked the Lord how I could trust when things are so uncomfortable for us now and have been for a good long time, the answer came that I can be at peace because I know Him. I pause, I remember He is present with me, I feel His smile, I know He does not ever leave me. 

When I focus upon how God loves us, I remember Jesus, that He has withheld nothing from us, not even His own life. I remember that He suffered so that we can join Him in eternity. In the face of His love, we can rest in the knowledge that He sends us no place that He has not been ahead of us, preparing the way.   

There isn’t a way to soften the truth of suffering in this world.  When people try to do that, they come up with platitudes that at best, do not help, and at worse, deepen despair. But there is Christ with us, our hope, our peace, our comfort and help.  

Things may be awful right now, but He is with us in the awful things; He is right there in the middle of them with us.  God loves us.  We are not alone. Jesus has made a way out of the hard things we face, and He is there with us in the middle of our trials.