This week, a 14 year old girl I watched grow up was hit by a truck and killed. Alyson was the big sister to triplet siblings and daughter to a widowed mom. My heart breaks for this family, who lost their father, years ago, to a car accident just a few months after the triplets were born.
What is there to say in the midst of such sorrow? Such loss?
Well, there is plenty to say. But anything helpful? Anything that peels back the heavy, black, dusty curtain of grief to reveal God’s goodness and glory?
The only thing that has ever given me that tiny peek into the light in times such as these is this: losing a child is very likely the very worst pain. The deepest loss. The most hopeless emptiness. The kind of emotional hurt that turns physical. Dark. All consuming.
But. God’s been there. He knows. He watched His only son die on the cross. He had all the power in the world to rescue Jesus. But He let him go.
And He did it for us. He could have extended grace and mercy to us any number of ways. But I find it incredible that along with that forgiveness, He chose an act that would communicate so much. That He would do anything for us. That He would suffer for us. That it could never be said that God doesn’t know our pain. Even the very worst sorrow we can imagine.
It doesn’t fix it. This truth doesn’t take away the hurt. But it is no small thing to know we are not alone in our suffering.