I often see it in the eyes of a parent who lost their child, or lonely spouse who is now widowed.
Or a child who has been bullied day in and day out. Or one that is dealing with their tumultuous situation at home.
Or I've seen it in really anyone who is experiencing great loss and hardship.
It’s this deep aching pain.
It’s this mark of loss that if you really look someone in the eyes, you can see.
You can see that sadness has become the norm in their life.
You can see it in them even after they’ve picked their life up, begin moving forward, and start to look “better” from the outside.
That spark is still missing in their eyes.
Because tragedy.. it can rip the life right out of us.
It changes us.
In some ways, forever.
I hate tragedy because it often seems like it steals the essence of a person. It feels like afterward, people are only living on autopilot, just trying to get by.
But... I’ve also witnessed the spark come back.
I’ve seen the person who once appeared to be moving around lifelessly in heartache, genuinely smile again.
I’ve seen them truly encounter hope again.
And actually be open to dreaming again.
Some tragedies will impact us our entire life on earth.
But when I see people who have encountered the worst grief and pain, yet they come back to engage with life as fully as possible, I can only think of one explanation.
God.
Only He could pull someone out of that dark pit.
Only He could breathe life into their hopeless soul and dry bones.
Only God can help us see that there is still more to His plan, and our life, that we can’t yet see.
Without Him, I don’t know how we’d ever go on.
He is our rescuer when we are in the pit.
He is our sustainer as we sit in the darkness.
And He is our healer as we start to climb out.
Only God.
If there is any place to lay your aching heart, friend, it’s with Jesus.
He will do the healing you and I never would be able to.
~Kelli Bachara, The Unraveling Blog