God Loves Them More Than We Do

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Amplified Bible

“One of the hardest things you will ever have to do, my dear, is grieve the loss of a person who is still alive.” Jeannette Walls

“Even when I detach, I care. You can be separate from a thing and still care about it.” David Levithan

Do you have someone in your life who is troubled? Ill? Addicted? Clueless? Dead?

We all do, I’m afraid. When my husband was dying and died, I was torn apart. The one thing that kept me knowing that our Father has all under control was the statement, I love him more than you do. Did I understand? No. Did it hurt? Yes.

When my niece, addicted to meth, abandoned her daughter and was nowhere to be found, possibly dead, a quiet voice said, “I love her more than you do.” Did I understand? No. Was there angst? Yes.

Our Father indeed loves them more than we do. There’s evidence. Our Father sent his son to a horrific death filled with shame, torture, and total abandonment by friends, his disciples and his Father. Our Father loved his Son more than we do.

I could not sacrifice my son for the sake of sinners. Just the thought wrenches my heart.

“How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Regardless, each one should lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him.” 1 Corinthians 7:16 Hands off! With love, prayer, wisdom for the day, and attending to my walk with an open heart.

Musings

We must release our loved ones, looking to ourselves and our Father to keep us faithful. Yes, we wrestle with God, and like Jacob, limp. Sometimes, a miracle happens, and the loved one is in remission, rehabilitated, and counseled to lead a Godly life. And sometimes, painfully true, not. So we do not lean on our understanding but release them to our Father with prayer and wisdom. Our Father created them before the foundation of the world.

Prayer

Dear Father,

Our words are insufficient to describe our loved one’s suffering and our overwhelming need to fix them and control the situation. Many times, our suffering is greater than our loved one’s suffering. We see with such clarity how a loved one’s life may end. We are powerless to change it. You experienced even more suffering with your son’s death for us. We ask why, but even if you told us, we wouldn’t understand.

We greatly miss our deceased and estranged loved ones.

We question why as you companion us through the dark. We’ll know someday. We see “darkly.”

We believe. Help our unbelief.

With gratefulness.

Amen.