Feb 6th, 2021: "For My Yoke is Easy..."

There were many feelings and thoughts as I left a meeting with someone who just lost her son, suspectedly because of drug addiction. The mother was full of anguish as she was struggling with many questions. Some of them were for God. Some of them were about the circumstances of his death. Some of them were about the relationship between her and her son. There were not too many answers or answers that make sense.

My experiences told me that I just needed to listen and to be fully present in my silence. I knew that I needed to let myself feel what the mother was going through. That is how I can be immersed in the depth of her pain. Whenever we are able to do that with someone who suffers, we might become more aware of God's amazing grace. She told me as I was about to leave after an hour or so that she was thankful that I came. Though she didn't understand what happened, she felt God's presence for the first time in many years. That was what I prayed for in my silence.

Yesterday, I called just as I promised her. She had some family members over, and she was able to be with them mentally for the first time. She still misses her son. However, she has chosen to write down her feelings for God and about her grief. She shared some of that with me during the phone call. Again I just listened. "I know that God won't leave me alone in my anger and pain," she told me. She said it still hurts, but she is not in despair.

"Being hurt but not being in despair" is what I took away from that conversation. In many ways, that is the image of how God identifies with our pains. 

Matthews 11: 28-30

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."