"A MAN OF SORROWS AND ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF"
and a daughter the same, moving up out of the valley...
In Isaiah 53:3, Lord Jesus was described as a " man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. " I can profoundly relate.
As I labor steadily in writing this continuing series of " love letters to the poor", a core part of this journey via missive is the trail of my own many year wander through the realm of grief and sorrow and how that in particular contributed to my 40+ years of financial struggle. I am an empathic "scientist" , not a " top producer* of much of anything except tears, which have made me a powerful empath in feeling the sorrows of others while also not adding to my bank account. Being regularly derailed by some spate of emotional distress, this does not contribute to steady gathering of funds.
Most recent derailing happened yesterday.
Watching various video shorts on my phone, one was a vid taken of a distressing urban street scene of severely downtrodden homeless people in a city that looked like a part of my old home of San Francisco. Stumbling, wavering, drug or alcohol enslaved, some mentally ill, in dire distress, slumped over or flat on the filthy sidewalk, these dear men and women who were created by God and may or may not have met Him and His Son, were obviously being condemned and castigated as useless impediments. Moments into the video, a profound song played in the background, the haunting voice I was certain was the lead singer of Alice in Chains, a very deep “grunge” band begun in the 1990’s in Seattle. Layne Staley, who despite his immense vocal talent, died of an overdose in 2002. He could not find his way out of emotional despair and aloneness. He spoke of going through the battle alone ...I began to weep and his searing voice pierced my soul. Every one of those people in the vid on that rough city street was " oppressed of the devil" and I could have easily been one of them. But for the immense mercy of God, I could have died of deep despair and sorrow, crushed by the thief and liar we know as the devil. Yes, extended sorrow and grief can kill you!
For God's reason...He kept hunting me down in my distress. Saved to Christ in childhood, flattened by grief in youth with the sudden deaths of both my Mother and my middle older brother within two years of each other, wandering in sorrow for 35 years, close to giving up many times, even now still wondering why I still live...when the struggle seems so overwhelming so much of the time
To those in deep sorrow, as per the devastating lyrics of "In a nutshell" by Alice in Chains, even to those somehow comforted by this man's immense sorrow woven thru his voice filled with pathos, I encourage you to cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who said " come unto Me, all you who labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest. "
For FREE, He offers rest from the battle moment by moment, a loving hand up from your depths, sharing tears with you. Thus is NOT religion! This is loving friendship, deep fellowship, brotherhood, sisterhood, wonderful and wise counsel step by step. You do NOT have to figure all this out, He knows what to do! This is real and alive and tangible thru the maelstrom of this dark world right now. This is not about "being good" or fighting the battle. We CANNOT fight the battle alone, I have tried so many times, in deep failure and dismay. I have no fight left in me. I cling to God and His Son!
Take it from a recovering woman of sorrows who never much expects to amount to or accomplish anything and longs for my country cottage in Heaven, away from this struggle...you have a Friend who will travel the road with you. He says "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He knows things we do not...and offers them to us, free of charge, only that we repent and let Him love us!
Even with the cynicism I still deal with, from so much disappointment in my 70 1/2 years of life, I have found Jesus' powerful words to be true: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Ww. May 19, 2023