Charlotte Ryerson

The desert has been beautiful in clouds and rain bursts most of the month of July.  And as we have loved the change and the absence of the bare, glaring sun, we have also had times of grief that seemed to go with the rain.  Mostly it has been other people in our lives who have lost loved ones.

It seems that every new grief brings back old griefs.  This month I've been thinking of my father, who died 13 years ago.  You never get over it, but in the Lord there is a sweetness with it.  Gratitude that I had my father so long.  The hope that I will see my father again in a place that has no more death, tears, sorrow and pain.  Where we will see the face of our dear Savior Jesus Christ!  Where He will wipe away every tear.

I don't know who will read this, but if you are going through grief I am praying for you right now.  I have posted a song this month that I wrote for my father called The Waters Of Mark Twain.  You can listen here.

Also, a dear friend recommended a very short but good book on grief by Dr. James White for those who want to understand this very powerful and often perplexing emotion/experience that we all go through.  I am putting in a link to it here.

Above all, we have the great promise from Jesus that He will carry our griefs:

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:4-6

It is my prayer that the song will comfort you, but way more than that, that the Lord Himself will reveal Himself to you, and that you will come to Him with your weariness and heavy load, and find rest and forgiveness and peace in Him. 

May God bless you as we begin the new month of August!

xo

Charlotte