We Weep With Those Who Weep...

The past several weeks have been tough for several families we know. One family lost their child five days after birth. She was born at twenty-four weeks. Another family lost their daughter, age 19, after a stroke. She had spina bifida. Another family we know just delivered their full-term son only to find him without a heartbeat. He was revived and is in NICU now. Another family we know has a son with Battens and he was in the hospital for over a week and the doctors did not give him much chance of living. Fortunately, he is back home and doing well for now. 

It is difficult to see all of this pain. It brings us closer to the reality of our own situation. We ache for these families and can relate to them, though we cannot know how they feel. Each of us go through grief and suffering differently. What is shared are the tears. Jesus shared those tears at Lazarus' tomb. He wept for the grief death and sickness brings us. Further, God the Father is not aloof to our pain for He watched His only begotten Son die on a cross. God the Father not only relates to how these parents feel, but He knows how they feel. He also has His arms around these children and nothing, not even death, can separate them from the love of God. Still, we ache and grieve, but not without hope.