I don’t know about you but sometimes my heart is overwhelmed by the struggles of those around me. It may be that a friend is going through something I didn’t imagine or I receive new information that brings tears to my eyes when I think of the inner turmoil that another person is experiencing. It’s difficult, really difficult, to see the hurt and pain in others around you and not feel consumed by the intensity of the results of our fallen world. People are fighting demons and desires, flooded by fear and hopelessness and I ache for them.

There are things we have been conditioned to say “I’ll pray for you”, “God will give you strength”, and verses that we may quote, but there are times when I gaze into the eyes of a friend when I don’t know what to say. I just hurt with them. I had an experience like that today where I’ve been aching inside for a friend, a couple of friends, actually. And it’s difficult. It’s difficult for me to see their way through and I can only imagine that my difficulty is miniscule compared to theirs. But I ache, and I wrestle, and I see God out of the corner of my eye because I know he’s there but I don’t even have the peace yet to settle into his presence. I am restless, though, until I seek him. Until I sit and take him from the corner of my eye and peer up at him through lowered head and brows and sigh in his presence. Then I start to release enough to see him again.

Because when I start to see God again, he slowly reminds me of things. As I start to inhale and exhale in rhythmic acknowledgement of who he is words start to come. Maybe songs, maybe Scripture, maybe phrases. Today it was

“Chains be broken,

Lives be healed,

Eyes be opened,

Christ is Revealed”

And things don’t feel so insurmountable. I start to think about Christ and what he went through and what his dying on the cross actually accomplished and I start to remember that this fight is not mine. God sees us, sees our struggles and has already provided in his strength for our struggles. This Christ on the cross, this person who conquered these sins and struggles that are ongoing our lives, is the same one who strengthens us. We are not left alone in our struggle. Our friends and family are not left alone in their struggles. Limitless love and limitless power meets us in our weakness and strain. Gentle hands and kind eyes see us and help our stumbling feet. The power of the conquerer is offered to us and resides with us in intimate ways.

Healing and hope and restoration are promised and this is what gives me hope. Hope for these friends for whom I ache. Hope for me in those times when I feel groundless. Hope for the struggle I see everyday in this world. Hope in this Christ who showed himself to us.