LETTER TO A FRIEND

What do you say to a friend who has lost his wife of over forty years? Times of grief are always hard. How do you find the right words? Sometimes, I say nothing. Not because I don’t care, but because, I too, am hurting and the right words just aren’t coming. 

I sent this to a friend weeks after his wife died. It took that long for me to find words!!! I am sharing it because I have read it over and over again, and it has become a means of encouragement to me…and I hope it is for you.

Death, grief and loss will come to us all. 

The older I get, the closer I am to it and so are my friends. I don’t look forward to it, but what I have come to see is that is when God doesn’t answer prayer for healing, He is still present. He ministers to the broken-hearted and gives hope to those who are leaving to meet Him!!!! 

There is a reality beyond this world, and it is eternal. 

We will see our loved ones again, and all that is broken will be made new.  No more tears, no more brokenness, and glory beyond imagination!!!! This our LORD has done for us because He loves us!!!!! And let’s not forget, it cost Him.

We have a living hope, that is imperishable, undefiled, that will never fade or wear out kept in heaven for us which is guarded by the very power of God!!! This He has made known to us by His word and by His Spirit which speaks to our hearts and tells us this is so!!!!

And so, my beloved brothers and sisters, be encouraged…lean hard upon God during these times. Let the whisper of His Spirit comfort and assure you that the things He has spoken of in His word and demonstrated throughout history are indeed true. 

And so, this is the email I wrote to my friend. 

Of course, I have changed the names, but I was reminded by my own words (isn’t that crazy how God works) that the goodness of God is not only waiting for us in the by-and-by, but can be tasted in the here and now!!

Dear William,

Sorry that the song (I sent) required a subscription. Ugh!!! The song was “Give me Jesus.” with a thought from John 6. When the people asked Jesus for more bread, he offered them the bread of life, not the physical bread they wanted. There was nothing wrong with the bread, but Jesus had something better to give them. How many times do we ask God for good things and God says, no. These are hard times. Especially when we have all kinds of reasons why what we are asking for is good! WE don’t understand why He doesn’t give us what we ask for. We wrestle with Him, and wrestle with truth. I have found that place of wrestling to be kind of a holy place as God often meets us in our wrestling!!!!!!

Though He may not give us what we are asking, He always stands ready to give us Himself. The song was “Give me Jesus.” 

A few years before my husband had his quad by-pass, he had cancer in 2018-1019…in two places of his colon. That was a hard time, but God saw us through it. I could go on. It had to be hard time to watch Rose go through her illness!!!!!!!! What a testimony to the goodness of God and the hope we have that she was “prepared to meet Christ.” It was in her in. The Spirit made that truth a reality.

Thanks for sharing. I know God will be with you. He sees His people, He knows our name and walks with us and is in us. Kind of hard to grasp:) But God has given us objective truth and a subjective reality that also speaks to our souls. 

May this next season be precious as we all wait to see Christ and our loved ones once again.

Bobbie 

Enjoy the song, “Give Me Jesus” by Fernando Ortega.