Hurting

With all that is going on in my own life and in the lives of those I know, and even those I don't know, I have both experienced and seen an immense amount of hurting. In some cases I can only imagine the hurt that these people are going to. In other cases I know what the hurt is like. But I am so convinced that God would not give my heart the immense capacity to hurt if He didn't want me to use it for good. It's both a blessing and a curse for me. My heart aches for those impacted by this earthquake and tsunami, it aches for those in my city, my own city, who are starving- not to mention those starving elsewhere around the world. I ache for the children left to grow up with no parents, or even worse, those with parents who are abusive or neglect them. It's easy for me to ache for these people and just lose hope. But I have to refuse that tendency of mine to just sit and sulk about it, the urge to sit and wonder why we have destroyed our earth to this point, why I am not like them today. It's not as easy to take my hurting and exchange it for healing and strength. In talking to two of my very best friends, I tried to put into words the feeling I have towards the things I have experienced. I have lost two grandparents to cancer, a "2nd mother" also to cancer, had my heart broken, been at my brother's side on the way to the hospital after being run over by a car. I watched another brother go through open heart surgery, and yet another brother suffer through cancer before he could understand what it was. I have been rejected (in a church of all places), had to learn to find peace with very little money, been brought to a helpless physical state due to food poisoning in a foreign country. I have had relationship struggles with my parents, suffered from anxiety, and had many feelings of loneliness in a crowd of people. I feel (something I cannot put into words, but something similar to lucky) to have gone through all that I've gone through. Because now, I can relate to people going through these same things. I know I'm not the only one to have gone through these things or who will go through these things. And for some people, my life sounds like bliss. And that hurts my heart. I wish I could trade lives with those truly suffering, to give them a glimpse of hope. But I need to exchange my hurting for healing and strength. Even if it causes more hurt for me in the beginning, I know it will help me heal in the long run if I'm just open and honest with people who are also struggling. Letting them know that it is a struggle, but that we never have to struggle alone. It will hurt, but there is hope. It's hard to open up about things that hurt though. It's hard to share the details that I try to forget. But, I have learned that putting all things in God's hands is the only way to make it through these struggles we face in life and truly leave it with Him. We may not be able to control what will happen, but we can choose to go through it all with someone who understands every bit of the good and the bad. I cannot wait for the day when the earth is returned to the way it was meant to be and there will be no more hurting. But until then, I have to make the most of my hurting by choosing to help those going through the same struggles, and hope that they too will see that God is our loving Savior.

Romans 12:15 (New International Version, ©2011)

¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (New Living Translation)

The Hope of the Resurrection

 ¹³ And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died^[a] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. ¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.^[b] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died^[c] will rise from their graves. ¹⁷ Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.

Romans 8:28 (King James Version)

 ²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.