In the Darkest of the Dark

My friends.  My friends have walked through the unimaginable tragedy of losing a child.  They have literally been down to the depths of hell and back.  It's been a few weeks since the funeral and now--life goes on.  It goes on for all those around them.  It goes on for their two younger children.  It goes on for them even.  They get the excruciating task of walking forward and doing the normal things in life when life is anything but normal. They are left with a huge gaping hole in their heart that can't be fixed.  Yes, God will and is beginning the healing process, but it will be slow going.  While the pain will diminish over time, nothing will ever quite be the same.    

I've had the privilege of being up front and personal, of being right in the eye of our friends' storm.  I've had the honor of watching our friends cling to Jesus in the center of their trauma.  Here's what I got to witness of my mama-friend:  years and years of personal Bible study and prayer coming to fruition right in front of my eyes.  You see, for years and years, day in and day out, my friend spent time getting to know her Father.  She spent time in women's Bible studies.  She spent time in prayer.  She and her husband made it a habit to take their family to church.  This was not just one portion or compartment of their life.  It was the center of their life.  And when she found herself in the eye of a storm one Thursday afternoon, guess what kept her from being swept up?  The One whom she'd spent all those countless hours with, day after day, year after year.  The One who knew her before he laid the foundation of the earth.  The One who knows what she needs before she knows she needs it.

Those days and days of spending with her Savior.  They were training camp.  They were strengthening her for such a time as this when He knew she'd need to recount all those promises she'd studied in His Word.  For the darkest hours of the night when she would need to cling to Him.  The past four weeks I have literally watched my friends be a pillar of strength.  I have watched their foundation stand strong and not topple.  I have witnessed a house built upon the Rock and not upon sand.  I saw an inner strength and ability within them that wasn't them.  I saw my mama-friend grab her friends' hands in the darkest hours and not ask for prayers, but lead the prayers.  I saw her husband lead her and himself through difficult decisions and then gather up friends and family and explain things with strength and clarity.  Minute by minute, God has sustained them.  He gives them what they need when they need it.  He even gives them glimpses of His glory that emboldens them to trudge through the muck and mire of the present.

These days, I worry about the generations behind me.  The generation that has grown up amidst the cell phone technology.  Those that have never known what life was like unplugged.  I worry that they aren't learning how to be quiet and listen...to read God's Word and let it truly saturate their minds and thoughts.  I worry that they're not adequately experiencing training camp, that they're not putting in the time that it takes to build spiritual muscle, the time that it takes to build a sturdy foundation that will not topple.  I worry about all of us, really, how we are letting every inch of our lives be filled with activity and movement.  We have lost the art of being still.  Being still and truly knowing our God.  With each distracted moment, we are allowing our spiritual muscle to atrophy.  We are letting it get weak and flabby.  And weak and flabby can't withstand the weight of catastrophe.

One day, for each of us, adversity will strike.  It's not a question of if.  It's a question of when.  When that happens, I want to be like my friends.  I want to know God so well that I cling to Him like a well-worn blanket, full of familiarity, safety and warmth.  I want His promises and words to invade my mind as naturally as my heart pumps my next breath.  

My friends.  My friends are going to make it--not because of their own ability or strength, but because of their God's.  They are going to make it because they are resting in the shadow of His wings and they are tapping into the one and only source that is able to supply what they need, exactly when they need.  He enables them to run and not grow weary, to walk and not be faint.  He promises to never, ever leave us or forsake us, even in the darkest of the dark.  

I find great comfort in that.


"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,  for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."  Deuteronomy 31:6

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27“The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”  Matthew 7:23-27

"Those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31