the sound of sorrow....

"Don't call me Naomi, " she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." Ruth 1:20,21

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. Eph 1:9-10

Today, the sound of grieving was so hard to hear.... from hiding in the closet, to pulling the blanket over her head..while Bella whined with her....not understanding the words to the Amharic song she wailed, but recognizing the pain of sorrow. It breaks my heart. No words to express....how to comfort.... I pat and rub her back, I sing a song...and she sings in tears....mommy mommy...she cries...yet turns away...... my soul cries silently with hers.

Yet, in a half hour or so....she has moved through this session of grieving and on to laughing at Tinkerbell and remarking on the "craaaazeee kitty".

Our life is not always easy, and definately not explainable.....Our God is mysterious. All powerful, loving, compassionate, yet allowing calamity and sorry to touch our lives. A merciful God, full of grace, yet beyond our understanding in His greater purposes. I was talking with my mom yesterday, how we cannot reconcile in our minds how all the experiences in our lives can fit into what we know of God. yet, some of us, choose to trust...that God is who He says He is and is doing what He says He is doing. He loves us.

So we can grieve our losses without the pretense of explaining the unexplainable....and yet still love and trust our mysterious God. Like Naomi, from our perspective, at times, it feels like the hand of the Almighty is against us. Yet, whether in this life or the unimaginable beyond, He will set all wrongs right, and comfort all sorrows.

However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— I corithians 2: 9

When I see what I cannot explain or understand....pain, sorry, illness, poverty, abuse.....All I can do is hope in God....because I know there is unimaginable coming....

Want to join us for a study of Ruth? Beth Moore starts her study on June 22. See my post here and Beth's here.



Blessings from our Almighty God, who holds us in the palm of his hand and all that touches us filters through his fingers of love, even when we do not understand.