Gò0dNews for Everyone
The Ultimate Comforter ’ve recently been through a divorce. I’m glad to have your full attention, but it’s probably not exactly what you were thinking. It wasn’t mine. My husband and I have been married for 20 years; we’re not inprocess or even thinking about a divorce. When we hear of a divorce, counsel troubled couples, or read about different scenarios, it’s disheartening. We’ve learned through the years that the ultimate reasons divorce happens are because
covenants aren’t upheld, Scripture is disregarded and discarded, and selfishness takes root and divides. These things are always difficult to encounter, but when someone close to your heart goes through this pain, it hits you differently—you question everything you’ve been taught about love, life, freedom, guilt, shame, and self. Recently, I’ve seen it firsthand: up close and way too personal with people I love and care for deeply. When it’s over, there’s a calm and a fierce anger that rises within, yet more than those two emotions, there is sadness. No, sadness isn’t the right word: there are no words. The depth of disgust, confusion, and depression isn’t something one can explain with any clarity. But it’s personal—and deep within—and creates a chasm that’s hard to crawl out of if one isn’t careful. Will the two people survive? Yes. They’ll be okay. They’ll breathe in and out until they don’t have to tell themselves to breathe anymore. And there will be scars:
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not the kind that reminds you to get back on your bike, or if you’d never baked you’d never get burned: not the kind that God gives to teach you something specific. These scars are on your fragile heart, and once in a while, you feel it squeeze and hold; you can’t catch a breath, you have a hard time getting out of bed and putting on clothes, and you walk into the day—what’s the word? Oh, yes. There it is: numb. The word is numb. The word that we don’t want to say because that means we may not have the full faith that we thought we had in our sovereign King. How can we be without feeling if we are in Christ? Can’t we just pray and it’s all better now? Why doesn’t it work that way? To begin, feeling numb doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t know God. It’s a natural response to a very painful situation. Praying certainly helps, but the numbness is primarily a means of grieving and coping as best you know how. It may reveal points of not depending on the Lord, or it may simply reveal that you are human, you’re hurting, and you’re ultimately longing for your true home and the Christ who will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Until then, we learn to depend on His Word. He gives “great and precious promises to us” (2 Peter 1:4) in it: “my grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9); “the Lord is near to the broken-hearted” (Psalm 34:18); “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27); “the covenant is ordered in all things, and sure” (2 Samuel 23:5); “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7); “God is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3:20); and “if are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). All of God’s Word brings comfort and healing in His time to His people. Knowing that God is sovereign over every situation brings hope (Ephesians 1:11). Knowing He will keep me, He will hold me fast, is such encouragement that when we feel we cannot continue putting one foot in front of the other, we can fill our lungs and sing to the One who knows all our despair and is our ultimate Comforter (John 14:16). About The Author
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by Kara Marsh
Kara Marsh is a homeschooling mom and tutor, local pastor’s wife, and craft hoarder. She loves Jesus, her family, and her church.
