Last Friday I had to put my beloved cat Charlie to sleep and it was a very emotional experience. At the beginning of the pandemic Charlie had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumor so I had known for months that his end was in sight, however that didn’t stop the tears from flowing. Charlie was my pet “therapist”. In the middle of sleepless dark nights I would go out to the recliner and Charlie would nestle against me. His purrs and warmth were the greatest sleep aide ever.
Needless to say, as I was weeping on my return trip from the vet, I asked, “Why God?”. It just seemed just one more loss piled up in a season of loss. In listening to people (remember, that’s what I do for a living), I cannot even begin to describe the loneliness, anger, depression, and lack of focus I have been hearing as women tell me their stories. Each of us, in our own individual ways have suffered many losses over the past nine months, whether great or small.
It is overwhelming. Have you ever tried to begin to comprehend the cries and the tears that God hears in heaven? Anyone looking at the news knows that we live in an incredibly fallen world. People on their own are not becoming progressively better; evil is being vividly displayed across the globe. The many tears have become an ocean.
So where do I sit amidst all of this? I know personally that I became God’s child at a definite time of history. John 1:12: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave them the right to become children of God.” That isn’t a “maybe” verse, it is a pronouncement verse. I know that I am His child and I am held closely in His hands, tears and all.
As God’s child, I love the fact that when I was driving home from the animal clinic last Friday that God was right there in the car with me. I know this from Psalm 34: 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
God HEARS me!!!!! He is close to tiny, fractured me, in the middle of the universe. God listens to me, whether my voice is loud or soft. God values my tears; God values me.
I think this is one of the most valuable things to communicate right now to anyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord. God values you! Even if you are a weeping a cascade of tears because a major life event or even if your cat died. Psalm 56: 8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. I know that in God’s book is a line: “Tears for Charlie”. How about you, have you allowed God to enter into your life, your tears, and to sit with you during them, especially in this season?