Creative Pieces… 177 The purpose is presence by Hannah Navarro
Life sucks. There is no beating around the bush with that statement. Life is hard. Life is not perfect. Life has pain, struggle, and… death. So yeah, life really does suck. As I sat on my bed, twiddling my thumbs above my keyboard, thinking about how to comfort my friend, whose dad had just been diagnosed with cancer, I was left wondering what would actually be encouraging. I shuffled through the options. I’m so sorry, I will be praying for you! I’m so sorry, I know God can do miracles, he can be healed! I’m so sorry, I wish all this pain would be taken away! I wanted to encourage her, but I knew nothing I could say would make the fear, anger, and denial any less real. In that moment, life really did suck. In that moment, all I could say was, May the Lord be with you. I was hesitant to reassure her that God is a God of miracles. I had no idea if her dad would be healed. I knew God could, but I did not know if it would happen. Then it got me thinking about all the sucky things in life that we all go through, as believers and non-believers. It would be so easy to slap on those comfort phrases of prayer and affirmation, but there is no telling of what will actually happen. Out of everything the Bible says, it never once assures us a perfect, painless life. Rather, John says the opposite. He told us to buckle up and take heart, for in this world, in this life, there will be trouble. In my attempt to comfort my friend, I realized that I could not wish away
