The Secret Hurts We Carry

The past six months have been hard. Losing our tiny Noel Christian was hard. Really hard. Though we are so excited about our new baby, this little one will never replace the child we won't hold until heaven.

The past six months have been a growing time. I have become a more patient person. I have learned to worry less. I have learned to be more open with my emotions. I have learned to be more compassionate to others.

We all have secret hurts we carry. I find myself looking at friends I think I know, family I love, strangers in the grocery store, and wondering . . . what secret hurts do they carry? Broken marriages, rebellious children, babies they never had a chance to know? There are many, many kinds of hurts, I know. Some big, some small - all painful. Some we want to talk about and some that are never, ever mentioned. As I look at the people around me, I pray for them and their pain. I pray that if they don't know the peace of God, they will come to know Him.

I long for heaven and have a sense of urgency for dear ones who don't know the Lord. Death is a certain thing. When the time comes to die, there's nothing we can do to stop it. Death is the inevitable end of our earthly selves. But it is not the end of the story. "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (1 Corinthians 15:19). But it is not only for this life we have hope in Christ. Because of the salvation He offers to us, we have eternal life in Him. "The saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'" (1 Corinthians 15: 54a-55).

More than anything, I rest securely in knowing that God is God, and I am not. He has a plan for my future.

God sent His Son - they called Him Jesus,
He came to love, heal and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
And then, as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory - and I'll know He lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And life is worth the living
Just because He lives.

(lyrics by Bill and Gloria Gaither)

If you're wondering how I've made it through the past six months, God is the answer. He is the only one Who heals the secret hurts. He binds up the brokenhearted, He proclaims freedom for the captives, He releases the prisoners from darkness, He comforts all who mourn, He gives praise instead of despair. He rebuilds, He restores, He renews. (Isaiah 61)