letter to a friend about suffering

[Recently I had a conversation with a friend about some extremely difficult times with her son and family.  This morning I was wrestling with it all and this is what I sent her.  And I thought that perhaps someone else is in the same journey of suffering today and that this might speak to him or her]

Dear friend,

I continue to be struck by your authenticity in the midst of suffering in your spiritual journey.  One of my fav quotes by George MacDonald says:  "...and when the dawn came, she was surprised to see how far she had come in the dark."  You carry around a lot of grief and anger and famine in your heart for your son and for your family--and I hope that when the dawn comes, you will be astonished to see how far you have come.

I do not know why Jesus does not come and rescue and heal and deliver--or why it happens at some times and some people and not others.  I don't think that he chooses hard things for us (there is enough hard things in the world that happen because of this broken world/nature/bodies).  I take comfort that Jesus is like a midwife to us, suffering and laboring with in whatever is being born in our lives and whatever is being transformed.

My sense and heart is that Jesus is with you grieving, and suffering with you and your son.  Willing to take all of the anger and hurt and grief of it, and hold it all in his heart, along with all of the hope and promise of wholeness beyond the scope of this world (or in this world at some point).

You are such a beautiful and courageous person.  I believe that you minister and hold out faith to others out of your wounds, and that is being the body of Christ--Jesus who heals us with wounded nail-torn hands.

I read this verse this morning:

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,

they shall be like a tree planted by water,

sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves shall stay green,

in the year of drought it is not anxious,

and it does not cease to bear fruit.

jer. 17: 7-8

I do believe that your life bears fruit today and this year even as you experience drought.

in grace,

me