Reason #689
Sometimes your heart breaks. Sometimes it hurts to breathe. Sometimes the world seems pitch black. You don't see how it could ever get better. Doors are closed, forever. Chapters end. The tears won't stop. The pain is more than you can handle. Misery accompanies you everywhere. You can't escape it, even in your sleep. And the pressure grows, threatening to crush you. To squeeze the very life out of you. Grief, it's all you know now. The days of joy, of laughter, of happiness are distant memories that you fear will never return. Sometimes life is hard. Really, really hard.
"...so that you will not grieve like people that have no hope." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13
Notice Paul doesn't say, "So that you don't grieve...period." It's okay to grieve. To cry your eyes out. To mourn your loss. It's okay to hurt, to feel pain. We're human, that's just part of it sometimes. It's okay if you're heart breaks. It doesn't feel good, but it's okay. It's okay if you sit in the darkness. If you can't speak any words, or if you can't think any thoughts. It's okay if you don't understand, and if you can't see a way out. No one said you have to keep it together all the time. No one said you have to always be poised and stay in control 24/7. Truth be told, it's better to let it out. It's better to give up control. And just because you don't see a way out, an ending, a way thought, doesn't mean there isn't one.
Hope. That's the key. We grieve and cry and we do it confidently because we have hope. Hope because our tears do not go unaccounted for. Hope because He notices. Hope because He has a plan and He knows the way out. Hope because He is in control, and even though we can't manage to keep ourselves together, He can. Hope because we know that He can and will use all things for the good, and hope that through it all, He will receive the glory.
Our darkness and pain is noticed by God. Not only that, it's noticed by people, too. And through those moments, we have the ultimate opportunity to show them what hope looks like. To use hope and overcome the valley rather than sinking into it. To see God work amazing miracles because unlike regular tears, tears of hope produce a beautiful harvest that reflects God's glory in undeniable ways.
That's why Jesus came. Not so that we would never cry again, but that we could cry with hope. He bore our pain and died our death not so that we would never hurt again, but that we could hurt with hope. That no matter what we're going through, suffering, pain, joy, or prosperity, we could live with hope. That's the one thing that never changes regardless of our situation. Hope, because there's a way out. Hope, because it does get better. Hope, because He has overcome and so we can overcome, too. Hope, because it doesn't stop here.
#689 - Because He came so that we could live with hope no matter what we face.
"And his name will be the hope of all the world." - Matthew 12:21
"...so that you will not grieve like people that have no hope." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13
Notice Paul doesn't say, "So that you don't grieve...period." It's okay to grieve. To cry your eyes out. To mourn your loss. It's okay to hurt, to feel pain. We're human, that's just part of it sometimes. It's okay if you're heart breaks. It doesn't feel good, but it's okay. It's okay if you sit in the darkness. If you can't speak any words, or if you can't think any thoughts. It's okay if you don't understand, and if you can't see a way out. No one said you have to keep it together all the time. No one said you have to always be poised and stay in control 24/7. Truth be told, it's better to let it out. It's better to give up control. And just because you don't see a way out, an ending, a way thought, doesn't mean there isn't one.
Hope. That's the key. We grieve and cry and we do it confidently because we have hope. Hope because our tears do not go unaccounted for. Hope because He notices. Hope because He has a plan and He knows the way out. Hope because He is in control, and even though we can't manage to keep ourselves together, He can. Hope because we know that He can and will use all things for the good, and hope that through it all, He will receive the glory.
Our darkness and pain is noticed by God. Not only that, it's noticed by people, too. And through those moments, we have the ultimate opportunity to show them what hope looks like. To use hope and overcome the valley rather than sinking into it. To see God work amazing miracles because unlike regular tears, tears of hope produce a beautiful harvest that reflects God's glory in undeniable ways.
That's why Jesus came. Not so that we would never cry again, but that we could cry with hope. He bore our pain and died our death not so that we would never hurt again, but that we could hurt with hope. That no matter what we're going through, suffering, pain, joy, or prosperity, we could live with hope. That's the one thing that never changes regardless of our situation. Hope, because there's a way out. Hope, because it does get better. Hope, because He has overcome and so we can overcome, too. Hope, because it doesn't stop here.
#689 - Because He came so that we could live with hope no matter what we face.
"And his name will be the hope of all the world." - Matthew 12:21
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