Today's Devotional Thought
September 13, 2011 by Wendy Foreman
He is Our Help
I spent a portion of my Saturday afternoon holding my daughter as she wept loudly over the death of a friend. She is 16 years old and she should not have to experience such devastation at her age. As I held her, I prayed for the words that would comfort her. Words that would bring her some sort of peace in the midst of a dark situation that I knew she didn't understand.
But the truth is, I really didn't have any.
I just let her cry and reminisce about her friend. I prayed for her over and over again throughout the weekend. I sat with her and held her and loved on her as much as I could to just simply let her know that her mom was there for her for whatever she needed.
She spent a lot of Saturday night texting friends and they were all in disbelief that a friend could just "not wake up" one morning. They talked about his great smile and how funny he was. Conversations ultimately went to how awful it was going to be Monday morning to get to school and not see him in the hallways. My heart was breaking as I thought of these young people having to face something so tragic.
Yesterday morning as my daughter was preparing to go to school, and I know anticipating how difficult it was going to be, I stopped and prayed with her. I prayed that God would be her comforter and strength as she walked into the high school. That she would be able to be some sort of comfort to her friends as she shared where her comfort was coming from.
As I saw her off to school, I sat and thought about how this young man's life was cut way too short. I thought about how his mother will never see him graduate high school or college. Never see him get married or have children of his own. My heart broke in two for her. This young man was only a few months older than my daughter and I know my world would shatter if I lost her.
I don't understand why things like this happen in life. Why is a mother grieving over the loss of her son today? I do know that God did not intend for us to live in a world that was so full of despair and hopelessness. His plan was for us to live in a world that was perfect. However, sin crept in through Adam and Eve and we now live in a fallen world where things like this happen.
I know that our hope and help should be found in the Lord. Our verse today tells us that blessed is he whose help is found in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God (Psalm 146:5). It is times like this that we must turn to our God and trust him and his sovereignty. There are situations and circumstances in this life that we won't get answers to on this side of heaven. When our help and hope is in the Lord, He will carry us through. I know that this is the case for my daughter right now.
Today, I would like to ask all of you, my After the Miracle friends to please continue praying for my daughter and her friends. The funeral will be this Saturday at the high school. Thank you in advance for all your prayers.