Encouragement

A friend shared this verse via Facebook today,

Come and let us return to Jehovah;
For He has torn us, but He will heal us,
And He has stricken us, but He will bind us up.

Hosea 6:1

My very first thought when I read it, was AHA! I knew it! HE has torn us. HE has stricken us.

But then I read again. And my heart softened (cue miraculous music).

But He will heal us.
But He will bind us up.

[sigh] It has been quite the doozie of a week. Twice this week I collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep. This is something I never do. But this week really did me in. And to be honest, this past year has really done me in. This past two years. Okay, nearly this past decade. I am tired. I am torn. I am stricken. I am wallowy. (I made that word up.) For years I have been descending deeper into this abyss of self-pity, desperate for rescue, yet each day more confidently assured there was no hope of rescue for me. And I remain ever stubborn, hardened, unturned, unyielding, unwilling to return.

And here on this day, the culmination of a week of being pressed beyond my limits, this verse. From a friend who has endured her own week (and more) of affliction and has need of its comforting as much or more than I. And not only that, but also on this day, this friend entered in to my life to meet another of my needs, most graciously and sweetly.

Does she know that her coming was God's coming? That her presence was God's presence? That her comfort was God's comfort?

That is not all of the comfort of today, but it is all I can bear to share. And Hosea 6:3:

Therefore let us know, let us pursue knowing Jehovah:
His going forth is as sure as the dawn,
And He will come to us as the rain,
As the latter rain which waters the earth.