That same week, l was in church during the worship time when my best friend came over to just wrap her arms around me tight and l just began to cry. No words were necessary. She knew she couldn’t make it better, but she could be present. So, you get the idea: It was a season with varying levels of suffering. I’ve been broken, and it’s been difficult.
This is not a post for sympathy, or a “poor me” attitude. No, this is a “me, too” because l know I’m not the only one who has felt weary.
Through it all, l rested in the words “it is well.”
In the midst of the storm, l am acutely aware of where my hope lies. Can you believe that our hope is not in our circumstances or even in this life? What a gift. Our hope lies beyond the grave, and in Christ. The author of Hebrews says that it was “for the JOY that was set before him (Christ) endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2, italics mine).
How could Christ have possibly had any measure of joy before him in enduring the horrible death on the cross? It’s because His hope was in what was beyond the cross. And for those of us in Him, our hope is the same. Someday every tear will be gone and every broken thing redeemed for those of us that know God through His Son. That is my hope.
Yes, l am human, and l will grieve, cry, vent and take time to heal. But the hope from Christ makes the season sweet. l love the way it’s brought me closer to Him. l love that it’s been a process of stripping away the things l places my identity in so that all l have left is Christ. l love that it’s made me grateful for the many small joys l see every day. And l love that its allowed me (OK, forced me) to experienced grace from my husband, sisters, closest friends and my church community group.
A season like this gave me greater appreciation for the words of Horatio Spafford, who wrote these lyrics after losing his four daughters in a shipwreck:
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul”
Indeed, because of the cross, it is well with my soul, and I can be sorrowful but rejoicing.
This article on wha it means to be sorrowful but rejoicing originally appeared here.
