Faith

Denise Heberlein

Liberty University Counselor in Training

1/31/2022

“I thought faith would say, ‘I’ll take away the pain and the discomfort,’ but what it ended up saying was, ‘I’ll sit with you in it.” Brene Brown

Have you ever felt a pain so deep that you thought you would never recover? I have. Years ago, one of our children decided that she wanted to live with her biological dad. For five years after this decision, she made no effort to have any contact with me. This was a hurt that cannot even be described. I could not understand why this happened. The grief that I felt was so intense and deep, I really didn’t think I would be able to recover. It was through this time that I discovered the healing power of prayer. Many times, I had no words to pray to God, I was pure emotional heartache as I cried out to Him. What I really hoped for was that God would make everything go back to the way it used to be. We would have our daughter home and life would go on. Yet, that did not happen. During those times of pain, God sat with me. He did not remove the pain, but He made His presence known to me. You see, God knew exactly my pain, as He felt that same heartache as He offered His Son as a sacrifice for us.

As we travel this life together, keep your hearts open to hurting people. Be an attentive ear for them. Sit with them as they tell you their story of heartache. We may not have the answers, but we can sit with people who are hurting and share in their pain by listening. Most people just want to be heard amidst their pain. In Matthew 26:38, even Jesus asked his closest friends to sit with Him as His soul was sorrowful about His impending death.