Hold on until the answer comes, because the Light shines just when you thought you have lost all things into darkness.
There are times when we cannot see anything that could possibly help us and give meaning to our lives. Such times however are not the times to give up hope because we may only be a minute away from being saved in the most unexpected and unimaginable way. Today’s letter is about trying to find that hope just when all things seem to be lost.
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
LETTER TO JOYCE
Hello Joyce my world is falling apart bit by bit, I lost both my parents in 2009 within months of each other. I then lost my brother I was closest with in 2010 to brain cancer and the person I needed the most, my husband walked out on me shortly after. I have lost a great paying job due to panic attacks and depression and I am now losing my home that I worked so hard for I feel so alone and empty. I cry by myself, at night in the dark as I look around at a house that I’m losing and all I am losing. I have 4 girls and one son, who had dreams if the army only to be told a recent diagnosis of Iga nephropathy a degenerative kidney disease, he’s only 16 and its killing me, everything is killing me…
From Shelley
RESPONSE FROM JOYCE:
Dear Shelley,
Thank you for writing and sharing your pain. It’s not an easy thing to do. I have prayed for you, and I’m sorry that I have not been able to reply sooner. I have just recently lost a very important person in my life and I had to be away for a while to grieve and take care of a lot of things.
It’s never an easy matter when we lose a person who is very dear to us. Their passing away leaves us with a vacuum that could never really be filled. We miss their presence. And we grieve the fact that we could never love them again like the way we did before.
For me, the only consolation is that the person I love is now in a far better place where there shall be no more grief or pain.
For us however who are left behind, we cherish the memories they left us, and we keep the love we shared.
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”-Helen Keller
We may have lost the physical presence of our loved ones, but what they have left us has forever enriched our lives, the love they gave us, we shall forever keep.
Shelley, during these dark times, I hope that you find strength in the love of the people who became a part of your life. If they could only talk to you right now, I’m almost certain that they would want you to go on and to stay strong. They would want you to take whatever little hope you’ve got, because sometimes, all we need is to hang on for a minute longer until we see the light that we desire.
In times when you don’t know how to carry on, you can try to talk to them in prayer, and ask them to lift up your prayer to God. Maybe you feel His silence right now. But His silence does not mean that He doesn’t care and that He isn’t watching. He is watching over you right now and is already sending His help. We may not see it, but in His time, we will know how He has supported us all the way.
Cry out your hurts to God. Ask Him everything you wanted to know. Ask Him to help you, and then hold on until the answer comes, as it certainly will.
You may feel a lot of loss in your life, you may ache with a lot of wounds. Sometimes however, these wounds are the very places by which the light of God’s healing could enter into our hearts. When it comes, let in, and let it heal you… all of your aches and pain.
You still have your children. Pray for their protection. Pray for their healing. Pray for a far more meaningful and beautiful life ahead of you. Hold on to what little you think you have left, for all is not yet lost. Sometimes, all we need is a single seed buried deep into the ground so it can bear hundreds of fruit in due time.
God bless you, Shelley! I send you my love and prayers.
With Love,
Joyce
Related Articles:
When You Grieve the Loss of a Loved One
Poem on Grieving
Begin Again
When You’re Too Tired to Hope
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"
One reply on “All is Not yet Lost”
The advice you gave Shelley is inspiring. I pray for her, too!
Blessings, Joyce!