Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Loss
Suffering Confronts Me
My heart is troubled and restless.
Days of suffering torment me.
I walk in gloom, without sunlight.
I stand in the public square and cry for help.
JOB 30:27-28 (NLT)
Some time after Dave’s amputation, I was driving to the cleaners, taking his suits to be altered. (We get the left sleeve cut off and have a shoulder built in, so the suit doesn’t look awkward on his body.)
I looked over at the suits and thought about what I was doing. Not only about the sleeve about to be cut off, but also about the arm that used to be in that sleeve. I thought about the shoulder I used to lean on, the shoulder that was now gone.I could have tried to think about something else, but I didn’t. I allowed myself to feel the sadness of my loss.
With Dave’s amputation I lost the arms that used to hold me, the hand on which he wore his wedding ring, the hand that held mine when we were dating in high school. Tears blurred my vision, and I sobbed as I drove down the freeway. I let the sadness run its course. Finally I felt a good strong sense of relief that came from allowing the sadness to flow out with my tears.
Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
PSALM 30:5 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Jan Dravecky
