Grieving and Hope

This week, grief and suffering have been on my mind a lot. I read Rachel Denhollander's interview with Christianity today and I found myself agreeing with so much of what she said. Although her topic was abuse, I feel the church tends to respond similarly to any issue that involves suffering. I don't mean to generalize because I know the church is made up of people and many of those people are very empathetic and kind, but overall, the feeling I have gotten at church is that suffering and grief are things we should be able to move on from pretty quickly if we have any hope and faith in God--as if grief and suffering are the antithesis to faith and hope. If that is the case I'm in some big trouble.
Our small group meets on Sunday mornings and this morning our dear friends were sharing a struggle in their life that consistently brings them pain and discouragement. They are one of the kindest and most prayerful people I know, but this morning they lamented sounding "like a broken record" because this was something they ask for prayer for a lot.
I could totally relate. We have a prayer request we share most weeks, and I said to them, "I never tiring of hearing your struggles, and I hope you won't get tired of hearing ours." It's possible this will be a prayer request for as long we know them. I truly hope not, but we will keep listening, praying and hoping for change as long as they need us to. Yes, they have seen some small improvements and glimmers of hope, but this morning they were just sad at how their life has been and probably will be in the future.
Did they need me to quote a Scripture verse to them or tell them how amazing they were or how I just knew God was going to work in their lives? They most definitely did not. They were very sad and they needed our group to just be sad with them and love them and let them know we are not going anywhere.
It made me think about how we define success as a Christian. Is it based on all the victories God has given us, or is it learning to live in moment-by-moment fellowship with God, telling him all our woes? HE never tires of hearing our struggles. In fact, I think He delights in  us curling up in His lap and telling our Daddy what we're tired, weary, and sad about. He's not disappointed in them for grieving the effects of the fall in the lives of those they love.
Jesus is described in Isaiah as a "man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering." This world has been poisoned by sin and evil and if we try to pretend it hasn't touched our lives we are not being truthful to ourselves or others. We should grieve at the way sin has tainted everything. If we are only looking for victories, healings and successes we will lose faith pretty quickly. What happens when God doesn't act in the way we hope or answer that prayer we have prayed a thousand times? Do we decide He doesn't listen or is not powerful?
I believe God is after our hearts, not our happiness. If grief, loneliness and suffering draw us closer to His heart and to His promise of eternal hope let us humbly walk that road with our Savior. He is good and He is kind, no matter how many thorns seem to grow along our path.

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