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Hope In The Grieving Sarah Fletcher Prayer Centre Coordinator
A Living Hope in the midst of Grief & Loss Why God? Where were you? Why didn’t you come? Ever screamed such words at God? I know I have! I yelled at God when Debbie drew her last breath. Debbie was my big sister, but she lost her fight with life at the age of 34. I was just 23 at the time with too many questions and not nearly enough answers! Where was God? Why didn’t he heal her and set her free? Why didn’t he rescue her? In my many questions, my perspective of God’s goodness became a little tainted. I began to believe the lie that God wasn’t good, that He hadn’t heard me and that He had failed both me and my sister. Yet amid the struggle, God never let go of my hurting, broken heart. The more I wrestled with Him, the more I understood that God had indeed answered my every prayer... just not the way I had expected! God is not offended by our questions or our angered frustrations. He Himself was a man of sorrows; acquainted with grief. As I walked through this shadowing valley, I came to realise that Jesus had understood my every thought, feeling and frustration. He once
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watched His own Son walk this walk before me, but He can also see the bigger picture ahead. It was not the immediate moment that impelled Jesus to walk to the cross, but rather the joy that was set before him. It was a future perspective that meant he could endure all the pain at Calvary. That joy was you, me and my sister Debbie at the other side of the cross; a secured eternity for each and all of us to one day be seated with Him in Heavenly places! A hope of what is to come. I began to see a glimpse of God’s bigger picture. Through my tears, I searched for the answers to my many questions. God encouraged my broken heart and realigned some of my ‘dodgy’ perspectives through the truths of His Word. 2 Corinthians 4:1618 (NIV) says; “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is seen is eternal.” Please understand that nothing about
