Words are weak --too empty, too abrasive with their very sound in times like this. What is there to speak to impossibly looming separation? How express the priceless hours and minutes weighted by these dwindling moments? Countless messages are sent out, grasping for some way to articulate the thing to say; most summarize with the only not-wrong word, "praying".
"Healing, restoration, strength, wholeness" -- these fit my definition of answered prayer. They serve for most people, I suspect. Still, despite the petitions of many, crucial and beneficial relationships are destroyed by death, disease and sin. Words recited in morning worship affirming God's goodness and mercy and faithfulness and love, were juxtaposed with news of this downturn (a ventilator and efforts to make the patient comfortable). Maybe "praying" isn't the right thing to say...
Other instances of cancer have similarly brought mothers, fathers, spouses, children, grandchildren and friends to this place of final moments. And while each story is unique, God has shown the sameness of His faithfulness to those who have been in the fiery furnace, who have emerged without a scorch mark or the smell of smoke on them. Like Moses, their faces are radiant from the presence of the One who revealed Himself -- the One who walked with them through the flames. While these are not words I will say to the grieving, they are the testimonies that encourage my heart, encourage my prayers on their behalf.
On this sad day, I am praying for Grace that confounds a wife, a daughter, sons, and siblings with comfort and peace...that can only come from a God who loves.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
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