While Barbara and her family were going through their incredible pain with their daughter and granddaughter I was at the beach alone with my daughter who is pregnant with her first child. The joy of being with my pregnant daughter was overshadowed by the pain of my dear friend and her daughter and family. My emotions were a jumbled mess. It was a constant ache all week. And it isn’t over. A deep loss like this doesn’t get fixed in three neat steps. The ache will be there for a long time. I can’t begin to feel what they are feeling. I can only hurt for them, enter into it with them, weep for them and pray for them.           

You understand. You’ve been through a deep pain with someone, too. You have felt helpless. You have wished you could make things better. You’ve tried to make sense of it all and found few answers. And you may have wondered how can they carry on?            

In the midst of their pain “carrying on” comes down to raw faith. It is the most precious faith precisely because it is so raw. It is tender, painful, vulnerable, broken—a faith raw from the agony of suffering-- a suffering that only our Savior Jesus fully understands. As Barbara and her family walk through this agony He is right in the center of it with them. And they know it.               

Their raw faith is a precious offering to Him. He will gently care for it.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18