Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Loss
Loss
Job continued speaking:
“I long for the years gone by
when God took care of me,
when he lit up the way before me
and I walked safely through the darkness.
When I was in my prime,
God’s friendship was felt in my home.
The Almighty was still with me,
and my children were around me.”
JOB 29:1-5 (NLT)
The hardest part of suffering isn’t the pain; it’s the loss. In Job 29 the suffering patriarch reminisces over all he’s lost. I know what that’s like. I’ve lost something that meant a very great deal to me. All my life I was a baseball player. My left arm made me one. Now it’s gone.
One day I was lying on my bed, feeling really frustrated with my life. All my feelings built up until I couldn’t contain them. “I’m sick of it,” I said aloud. “I’m tired of being an amputee.”
I wanted to cry. I let my mind go back to my days in Little League, in high school and college, in the minors and the majors. I recalled fond memories of throwing the ball, getting players out. I would never get to do that again. That was the first time I’d taken time to miss my arm, to realize that it was gone for good, to let the sadness sink in.
The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends
His mercies never cease.
LAMENTATIONS 3:19-22 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky
