I have tried to write something profound for the last 30 minutes, and it’s not happening. I’ve used the backspace and the delete button a lot. There’s too much on my mind to pray for, so I thought I’d just throw the requests out there and pray that we will see God’s goodness through the hurt and the suffering. He is good. Even in pain. He is good.
Our pastor is in Haiti. He got there early this morning. His Tweets and Facebook posts have been heartbreaking, real and honest. My heart hurts for the people in Haiti and he and a crew of folks get to see this all first hand. Images that will never leave their mind. Their wives have put them in Jesus’ in hands and I’m sure they are anxious for their return. I know that they will come home broken, but they will also proclaim God’s goodness, which is hard to understand in the midst of all of that chaos, hurt and strife.
Pray for Haiti. Pray for God’s mercy. Pray for the people. Pray for the mammas and the daddy’s who have lost their children. Pray for the children. Pray for comfort.
I have friends who have had beautiful babies, but instead of their babies with them, their babies are with Jesus. Pray for them. Pray for their hearts. Pray that they will grieve and through their grief they will know Jesus more. Because He grieved and He suffered.
There are also friends with their children in the hospital or they are sick. Pray for the children to be healed and God’s grace to be evident. That those children will come to know Jesus and that those parents will see Jesus’ glory and goodness in their pain and their child’s pain. It’s hard to see in the midst and in the heaviness of it all. Pray that even a faint glimpse in noticed. Sometimes there are no words in the midst of pain. In the darkness, but the Holy Spirit will groan for us.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:26-28
Pray that through the pain, the saddness, the hurt and the strife that we will see God’s goodness.