God Meets Us There

Many years ago, I had a friend who went through a terrible divorce. She had two children who were caught up in the middle of it all. There was a great fight over custody. Things seemed to go from bad to worse. And then her father, who had been her advocate, right in the midst of all this got so sick that he was hospitalized.

She said she was never much of a person of prayer, but she found herself there one night praying by his bedside. And while she was praying she felt this overwhelming sense of God’s presence. She told me it was almost as if God were saying to her, “I’m going to carry you through.”

I remember one year a church I was serving hosted a regional gathering of Stephen Ministers. An older gentleman came to speak as a keynote. Right away it was clear that he was speaking out of a deeply personal experience. He had grown up a nominal Catholic, only attending church on Christmas and Easter. But that changed.

He shared with us that 10 years earlier his 21-year-old daughter was killed in an alcohol-related car crash. Of course, it was devastating. In trying to work through his grief and pain, he reconnected to his faith in a powerful way. He had joined a Benedictine community, not an ordained monk, but as a lay oblate. He had taken a set of vows and committed to the daily disciplines. As a piece of this, he was volunteering with Stephen Ministries – attempting to help others through their pain. He told us, “God met me in my darkest moment, and God continues to meet me as I minister to others in their darkest moments.”

I’ve heard many other stories, from many other people across the years who made similar claims, that it was at a dark time that God came into their lives in a powerful way. These stories always remind me that there are no promises that God will take away the suffering or hardship in life. However, God does meet us there. In fact, the scriptures do assure us that it is precisely within the darkness and heartache and disappointments of life that God is at work… And the last word has yet to be spoken.

Let us pray: We remember today, O God, that ultimately, suffering does not have the last word. For you are a God who brings light out of darkness, hope out of despair, and even life out of death. We ask you to meet us today at our own deepest point of need. Grant us your courage and strength, and infuse us with hope. We ask in Jesus’s name. Amen.