Where is the why?
“Don’t worry. Be Happy”
Or how about this one…
“Just trust the Lord.”
Do you ever feel like those little phrases {that might be meant for encouragement} keep us from sharing the ugly?
In February of 2008 I was in a horrible car accident. April surprised us with the news that I was pregnant. Six weeks later, I suffered a miscarriage and lost the baby.
My oldest was eight at the time and asked me the obvious question… the question perhaps most were afraid to voice.
“Why did this happen, mom?”
How do I give an answer to my son, when my heart is filled with the same question?
Where is the why?
This season seems to come in waves. The first time I walked through a season of death, I was finishing high school.
Within two years, this valley I was walking in became all too familiar…
A dear friend’s grandfather suddenly passed into the arms of Jesus after a hit and run.
A precious mentor lost her fight with cancer.
My close friend’s dad lost his short battle with illness.
A close family member overwhelmed with depression, took his own life.
My grandfather’s sudden heart attack… taking him home.
Where is the why?
I learned a lot about grief during those years.
That grief feels a lot like fear.
That grief doesn’t have to steal my hope.
That we were not created to experience this kind of loss.
That grief is just that… grief.
You know the story of Lazarus. He had gotten ill and was dead for 4 days before Jesus came back to see him. The shortest verse of the Bible…
“Jesus wept.”
{John 11:35}
Look at what happened just before this…
“So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
{John 11:14-15}
Did you see it?
Jesus shares that He is glad His friends got to see this ugly… so they could see the beautiful.
The absolute perfect picture of the ugly becoming beautiful.
Death is about as ugly as it gets if you ask me…
And, my KING has overcome it!
HE has CONQUERED DEATH!
We do not have to fear it…
We can grieve with HOPE.
…even if we don’t understand or know the why.
Recently a dear family friend suddenly walked into the arms of Jesus.
A precious friend’s mother is in her last days fighting alzheimer’s.
Our family friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor today.
Other friends are awaiting a lung transplant… while his wife struggles with her own battle with cancer.
I don’t want to walk through this again.
I don’t want to see those I care about… hurt.
I don’t want to hurt.
oh. this. world.
Where is the why?
This is the depth of the ugly… and sometimes we don’t get the why.
So I cling to what I do know… TRUTH:
“Yet this I call to mind and
therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s
great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
{Lamentations 3:21-23}
And my favorite… verse 32:
“Though he brings grief,
he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.”
We don’t always know the why… But, He does.
And this longing awakens a thirst for eternity, our true home…
where there will only be beautiful.
“All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong”*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOjCYf5z6lc
*Building 429 – Where I Belong
