By: Mark Totten

Nancy and I joined many others in grieving the passing of a young woman, mother of three including a newborn, and a beloved wife of a young man facing a future without her by his side to raise three precious children. For many, these tragedies reinforce a notion that our God must not exist or must be a weak force in the universe; otherwise, God would intervene to prevent tragedies. 

Seminary professors use terms to explain a universe with free will and original sin setting in motion a broken world with Heaven being the destiny that really matters. For my reading of Scripture, there is one verse that has sustained me and keeps me filled with love, faith, and hope in trials and tragedy: Jesus wept. And He still weeps, and in each of our tears are mingled His tears. The tears of love and sorrow flow— streams to rivers. 

On the other side of tears are Grace and Mercy to walk with Jesus as His Spirit leads. The tears lead to prayers and to communion with the Life Giver whose tears led to a cross and the depths of hell and to rising from the grave and ascending to Heaven where He is interceding for ALL who call on His name. 

I do not see the future, I cannot fathom the evil and the tragedies this side of Heaven has, but we are not forgotten or abandoned. The God we serve created all things and continues to create new days, new life, new journeys. When His Healing comes, power to forgive seems to be mentioned first and the Healing seems to flow from this. I am thankful for much, including tears that are mingled with Jesus’s tears when I weep.