[dropcap2 variation=”coffee”]”I[/dropcap2] don’t have to worry about hell,” Melissa exclaimed. “I’m in hell right now.”
Melissa was in her mid-fifties. She grew up in an alcoholic home, never knowing what to expect. She ran away, got married, and had two kids by the time she was eighteen. When her husband turned physically abusive, she left home again.
Being a single mom was tough. She went to work, got her GED, and headed to night classes at the local community college.
Just when things were looking up, her youngest daughter got hooked into the wrong crowd and was killed in a drug-related incident.
Melissa never recovered.
Now she was in a hospital bed in the back room of a family member’s trailer. She’d been ill for two years and was in constant pain.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “My life has been a war.”
I just listened to Melissa and then prayed for her.
Many times we don’t have answers. In the face of intense suffering, listening and prayer are two powerful ways to bring comfort. Shutting our mouths can be one way to open our hearts.
We can listen.
We can pray.
Jesus’ earthly life was a war too. He knows all about pain and death.
Lord, let the suffering know just how near you are. Bring comfort, and peace.
