He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away. – Revelation 21, WEB
Sometimes, the darkness that covers the present moment is so heavy and painful, that even though we know God still watches over us, even though we believe that in the end, all things would work together for good, we can’t help but feel unbearable sorrow. Why must things happen this way? Why this indescribable grief?
And though we know that there will be an end to the night, even though we believe the sun will surely rise again, we can’t help but weep. For though such dark hours will certainly pass, it seems to pass so slowly. And while it lasts, eternity itself seemed to have arrived at our very door. A night of eternal sorrow. A winter that refuses to surrender into spring.
What can we do but wait ’til the night is over? What can we hold on to but prayer? And even though our prayers seem empty and dry, we trust still that the One who hears them lives! He is ever the same. He has sustained us in all our past woes, and He will carry us through though we may not know when, though we may not understand how, and though the only grace we feel is the strength to hold on for one moment more.
“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
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"