If we don’t take it, we won’t make it!
Maria Fontaine June 29, 2026
Download Audio (7.5MB)
Most people are becoming more aware of the magnitude of tragedies, suffering, and death in many places around the world. People’s wrong choices have triggered so many problems for a very long time. With the world being so interconnected, we find ourselves facing a constant flood of many heartrending accounts that test our faith to the core, because we can’t see all that Jesus sees.
There are also circumstances that can affect us personally, such as the suffering of loved ones, or the too-often-unseen suffering in the lives of others around us that few seem to notice. Or it may be our own suffering and losses that bring us pain far beyond what words can express.
These troubles help lead us to Jesus, in the same way that Jesus came to His Father at every opportunity to commune with Him and to receive strength to carry on. We need to place our difficulties in the Lord’s hands and let His love, strength, peace, and comfort pour into us so that we can fulfill the beautiful Bible verse that says: “Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Corinthians 1:4–5).
I recently had the opportunity to respond to the heart cry of someone who the Lord has called to minister to some extremely traumatized people who desperately need hope, kindness, and compassion. I wrote the following:
Thank you very much for sharing your heart with me. Though I’m not experiencing firsthand the unspeakable pain you are encountering, it still breaks my heart. I can imagine how hard it is not to question, “Why?! Why do these people have to suffer so greatly?! Why isn’t Jesus somehow delivering them from these circumstances?!”
We don’t have all the answers. We can only reply with compassion and by sharing their pain. Like the father you mentioned, who has lost his children in such a heartbreaking way, you can’t undo what has happened, but you can weep with them that weep. You can hold them and give them what comfort you can. The only hope for this world is the fact that, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has promised to bring His children into another life where the wrongs will be made right.
When praying for you, I was reminded of how important communing daily with the Father was to Jesus. I believe that the suffering Jesus saw in so many lives broke His heart. It was essential that He looked to His Father for the strength, love, and resolve He needed to keep going for the sake of those who He came to save. He also knew that His example of looking to His Father would be a clear reminder to us, His followers, to do the same.
I would imagine that in your situation it’s difficult to get time alone with Jesus, but that’s what you need to make time for as much as you can. You can’t carry that burden on your own shoulders or in your own mind and heart, but Jesus can. He will provide the supernatural strength and compassion you need. He will enable you, through His Spirit, to weep with those who weep. He will also help you to find the determination, courage, and faith to lift up to God those who are suffering such things. He can help them to find His love, even in the midst of suffering and evil.
He has given you the heart of a lion and the tenderness of a shepherd. I know that it brings you terrible pain to see such suffering, but through this, you are a beacon of hope and a place of refuge for many who would otherwise have no light. As one of the Lord’s representatives, you can bring hope to the hopeless.
As you mentioned, the troubles of this world seem to be intensifying, and because we’re called to be a light in this darkness, we must keep replenishing our own supplies of the oil of His Spirit so we can help light the way for others. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, and we must keep turning to Him to replenish our oil. Otherwise, we just won’t be able to do the job, and we’ll burn out and risk succumbing to hopelessness, despair, or bitterness over such terrible experiences.
Our desire for you and for your team and any others who face devastating pain and suffering is that you will be able to find that time to commune with Jesus. We can’t “fix” this world in this present time, but we know the final solution will come when Jesus comes back to reclaim this world! Then your heart that has been broken for so many will carry the compassion and love that will enable you to rule and reign with Jesus in the way He wants you to.
Knowing these things doesn’t take away the pain we feel at this moment, but it can help us to have the vision for the days that we know are coming. In the darkest times, it’s all the more important to hold on to Jesus, who can motivate us to reflect His Spirit to others. Keep your wick immersed in the oil of His Spirit, keep it cleaned and trimmed, so that it can burn brightly and clearly. He is counting on you to be His light for those who need the truth.
Especially in such terrible circumstances, I know the Lord is there with you. Even though those children you told us about died in the fire, I believe that, in God’s mercy, they never felt the flames. I believe that Jesus’ arms were around them, shielding them from pain and carrying them safely to where such things will never come close to them again.
The horrors that so many have perpetrated in this world are drawing to a close soon. Evil and rebellion against God have brought terrible things into this world for millennia, but the darkness will be destroyed by the light of God, and at last, all will be made right.
With love, admiration, prayers, and tremendous thankfulness for you and all of your team!
* * *
And for each of you who face times of sorrow, suffering, and tragedy, I know that Jesus is close by your side, waiting to lift and comfort you, and to bring you His peace that passes understanding, as you look to Him.
Originally published April 2023. Adapted and republished June 2026. Read by Debra Lee.
Copyright © 2026 The Family International
0 Comments:
Post a Comment