Playlist: Sad Songs — Wednesday
Psalm 42:8
But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. (NLT)
About a year ago, I had the opportunity to serve at our Marriage Conference with a small group of Guest Experience volunteers, most of whom I’d never met before. One was a lady named Linda. I could tell she was somewhere around retirement age, yet she had a strikingly youthful energy and a contagious sense of joy.
Our little team had a fun day together serving hundreds of couples in our church as they celebrated the gift of marriage and re-centered themselves on their commitment to each other. But all day, I noticed people coming up to Linda and hugging her in a certain way… almost sympathetically. For what, I wasn’t sure.
Then at the very end of the day, I discovered why. Linda’s husband, Steve, had passed away from cancer two weeks before. He had also been a Guest Experience volunteer at the very campus we were at that day. And here she was, choosing to be at this place where she and Steve had made so many memories together, surrounding herself the entire day with couples at a marriage conference… I was blown away and heartbroken all at the same time.
When I asked her why in the world she’d chosen to be there, she replied with tears and a smile, “Steve would have wanted me here.” She went on to talk about God’s goodness to them throughout their 22 years of marriage, their love of serving His church together, and how she sincerely wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.
I ran into Linda at another event recently, almost a year later, and asked her how she’d been. Again through tears and a smile, she admitted she had her good days and bad, but she couldn’t stop talking about all the ways she’d tangibly seen and felt God in the months since Steve had passed. Her song about God’s faithfulness remained the same.
It’s incredibly difficult—seemingly impossible at times—to cling to truth, hope, and joy in moments of intense sadness, grief, and suffering. But Linda taught me that, even in the “It doesn’t make any sense” and “This wasn’t supposed to happen” and “Why me? Why us?”—we can still find God’s grace and goodness all around us. That’s a reality that never, ever changes. He’s constantly pouring out His unfailing love on us in intentional, tangible ways, so that we can live in that love every moment of every good and bad day.
We will see Him everywhere and always, if we bring ourselves to look.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Where have you seen God recently? Wherever you find yourself today, try to think back and identify something revealing His care for you. I promise you’ll find it if you try.
