He was a father, a real Type-A kind of person. He was in control, productive, and didn’t miss a beat. This was, of course, until he got the flu. He left work early, drove home, went to his room, closed the curtains, and curled up in bed.
He was completely covered in darkness, trying to sleep away the cold. The door creaked open and a stream of light shone on his face.
“Daddy,” a sweet voice said.
He meant to say, “Yes, buddy” but a moan came out instead.
“I came to hurt with you,” his little son said as he came into the bed with his father – the light shone on them as they snuggled together.
I do not know the man mentioned above, but I know the story to be true. There are seasons in life that are dark. An accident or a diagnosis affects our physical bodies. Divorce or broken relationships affects our emotional state. The loss of a job affects our financial stability. We lose loved ones, battle cancer, or see others fighting degenerative diseases, and it affects our spiritual walk. The fact is, life gets dark from time to time.
It’s in the dark seasons that we so desperately want someone to shine some light and say, “I came to hurt with you.”
I saw this picture years ago and I have never forgotten it. It looks like a blurry picture of nothing, right? If I asked you to guess what it was, you’d probably say it must have been taken by accident. But, this picture is the most profound picture I have ever seen in my life.
Earth in this picture is suspended in a sunbeam. And the same God, that allowed this picture to be taken, also allowed the Light to come into the darkness of our own hearts, lives, and dark seasons in order to hurt with us.
He could have done it a thousand different ways. He could have chosen not to create us at all, or not to suffer at all, but He didn’t.
It’s hard to understand why He chose to do things this way, but since this is our example, we want to do the same. Our ultrasound technicians, our client advocates, our center directors, our volunteers are here to shine a light into the lives of our patients. Because, when they are facing an unplanned pregnancy, life is dark.
We recently heard back from one of our patients. She came to us expecting her third child. She said that she was so depressed that she contemplated suicide. But, after speaking with one of our client advocates, she said,
“they helped me see where my help comes from” – God.
We want to be known as people who open the door of darkness and shines the light in and say, “We are here to hurt with you”.
We want to be the light that punches holes into the darkness.
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