Never Abandoned in Our Sorrows

I headed for the bathroom, tears streaming from my eyes.

I’d finished off the box of tissues, and toilet paper was all that was left to dry the mess of emotion covering my face. My mind was racing trying to connect dots and formulate answers that could only come from God. In my human need for logic and reasoning, I found myself drawing baseless conclusions. “If I hadn’t done this,” or “If I’d prayed a little harder,” or “If I was a better person,” things would have happened differently, and I would be spared this pain.

I stood in front of the sink, my hands bracing myself on the cold countertops, “That’s not how God works,” I said it audibly, staring straight at my reflection in the mirror.

They were words I needed to physically hear, a reminder that God doesn’t hurt us or others to make a statement or prove a point. I’ve had the privilege of experiencing many beautiful attributes of Our Creator, yet in moments of despair, my memories and knowledge of God’s goodness tend to vanish in an instant.

We hear today, “They forgot the God who saved them” (Psalm 106:21). It would be easy to read the psalmist’s words and only hear them through the lens of Exodus’ golden calf story (Exodus 32:7-14), but there have been times that I, too, have forgotten the goodness of God and the challenges He’s carried me through.

As I remained in that bathroom, desperate not to forget again, I began to list the ways God has been present in my life as well as the attributes of God I know and love:

God is compassionate.

God is steadfast.

God is merciful and generous.

The list is infinite, and so is He. Remembering this did not take away the pain, but instead reminded me of the Savior Who sits with me in my sorrow. May we never forget the love of God Who saved us.

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God is merciful and generous. // Sarah Rose Click to tweet

Are you feeling alone in your sorrow right now? Turn to Him Who created you out of sheer love.