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“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”  Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

Recently, I picked up the phone and called an old friend in Brazil to check on her. Upon hearing her voice on the other end of the line, I said “Hello” and asked how she was doing. She immediately said, “Not good,” and started to cry. I was trying to make sense of my friend’s words as she went into a deep wailing and sobbing.   I had to just sit there, holding my phone and praying quietly until she recovered her breath and voice and could tell me what was wrong. It was one of those moments when you wish you could cross the barriers of geographical distance in an instant and hug someone, holding her tightly and loving on her until the tears dried up.

In a little while, my friend was able to tell me that she had lost her closest sibling, a sister, to a tragic automobile accident just days before. No good-byes had been said, no preparation was taken for that moment – her sister had left on a trip and was never going to return home. There was nothing I could do to take my friend’s pain away, except to reassure her that her sister was now in a better place, with her Lord, happy and free, without the worries of a world that is seldom fair. I also told her that it was okay to cry, to express her loss in mourning. King David mourned his son Absalom  (2 Samuel 18).  Our Lord Jesus wept when He lost his dear friend Lazarus  (John 11:35-36).

A few years ago, my friend cried with me when her stepson walked out on our marriage. Last night, in reversal roles, we again tried to model to one another what “walking our talk” really means. Throughout our friendship of 30+ years, we have cried and laughed together, encouraging one another. There are no boundaries to God’s love because it is His love that has kept us from breaking apart when I was detached from the family legally.  As long as the Lord Jesus sees fit, we will continue to be the umbrella in each other’s rainy day.

“Lord, pain sometimes can seem unbearable. Please help us to be sensitive to others when they are hurting.”

For His Glory

Luska Suzano
TRBC Women’s Life