Newsflashes of tragic stories seem to be unfolding almost daily.  Just a few weeks ago a three year old girl died in a daycare van where she was overlooked and left alone in record heat.

My mother-in-law’s sister is dying of cancer and is told she has only a few days left.

A good friend of mine discovered the news of her estranged father’s death on her mother’s answering machine.  Can you imagine running to your mother’s house to gather some things to bring to her at the hospital while she recovers from a double-bypass and discovering such shocking news?  I simply cannot fathom the sorrow or grief.

Today I heard that a man from our old neighborhood—a quadriplegic as the result of falling out of his tree stand a few years ago—commited suicide this past Monday.  His oldest daughter had his first grandchild just a few weeks ago.  She lost the father of her baby earlier in her pregnancy to a car wreck.

Words fail me.  I recall the lyrics to an old 4 Him song, Where There is Faith:

I believe in faithfulness
I believe in giving of myself for someone else
I believe in peace and love
I believe in honesty and trust but it’s not enough
For all that I believe may never change the way it is
Unless I believe Jesus lives

(chorus)
Where there is faith
There is a voice calling, keep walking
You’re not alone in this world
Where there is faith
There is a peace like a child sleeping
Hope everlasting in He who is able to
Bear every Burden, to heal every hurt in my heart
It is a wonderful, powerful place
Where there is faith

There’s a man across the sea
Never heard the sound of freedom ring
Only in his dreams
There’s a lady dressed in black
In a motorcade of cadillacs
Daddy’s not coming back
Our hearts begin to fall
And our stability grows weak
But Jesus meets our needs if we only believe

I remind myself that His Words NEVER fail.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Isaiah 53:3

And I remember that we may not understand, but He does.

Please pray for the loved ones surrounded by these tragedies.  May you each find peace and comfort in the arms of the One who alone truly understands such grief.  May your joy come in the morning.

mysiggy