Holding On To Hope

Go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.

Luke 8:39

THE TORTURED SOUL WAS demon-possessed, driven to madness, and living naked among the tombs. Try to visualize it. Watch him scramble over the stones. Hear him scream in the darkness. Feel the cold night rain lash on his bare skin. Look into the marred, tear-streaked face of despair. It is hard to imagine a worse fate. But the man did not suffer in isolation. His parents lived with the unique pain that is borne by those who watch helplessly while their child suffers.

Into the middle of that horrific drama stepped Jesus. A word from the Son of God brought spiritual healing and deliverance to the beleaguered man’s mind. And then Jesus spoke a parting word of restoration: “Go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.”

It is in the heart of God to heal wounded souls and reunite families. That is why hope should still burn brightly for every grieving parent who has been praying, perhaps for years, for a lost and seemingly hopeless child. There are no pat answers, secret formulas for success, or guarantees. We cannot discern the complex interplay between fallen human will and the ways of God. We cannot understand why things happen the way they do. But we can know that the heart of our Father is good, and we can continue to hope and pray, trusting that He knows what He is doing and is faithful to us.

BOTTOM LINE

Keep bringing your pain to God, and humbly ask Him to intercede. And when nothing else makes sense, trust the heart of God.

Moment of Strength: Isaiah 59