A Pathway Through Our Pain

Good morning…

How do we live through excruciating pain? We turn to Luke 22:41-45 (NIV) to discover a pathway. How did Jesus live through his darkest hours?

1) He withdrew a stone’s throw beyond even his inner circle friends. We too give ourselves permission to withdraw, to separate, to take space away from even those we love the most.
2) He knelt down. He crumbled. He collapsed. He surrendered his whole being into the loving care of our Creator. We crumble. We collapse. We melt into God’s loving care.
3) He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.” We carry on our own conversation, “God, if You are willing, take away this cup of suffering. Please don’t make me drink of deep despair.” “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” We too relinquish control, “If I do not get my way, I trust, God, in Your higher way. In Your hard-to-understand way, bring about Your ‘healing will’ through all my heavy hurt.”
4) An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. An angel. A messenger. A loving one. An angel appears in our darkest hours, strengthening us with God’s powerful presence.
5) And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. With the strength of an angel’s presence, we stop resisting our anguish. We feel it fully. We pray more earnestly, pouring our pain through every pore, crying, seeping bloody drops of truth.
6) When he rose from prayer and went back to his (loved ones), he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. During our darkest hours, our loved ones often feel asleep to us. They are exhausted from their own heavy sorrow. Alone we cry out to our Heavenly Father and we are strengthened by the presence of a loving angel. Miraculously our darkest hours eventually give way to dawn.