Thursday, February 12, 2009

God Collects Our Tears??


My devotional today was a reminder of how much God cares for us. I sent it to a dear friend, Pama Caraway. Her husband, Andy, is in very serious condition from injuries sustained during a motorcyle accident. He was flown by LifeStar to Savannah's Memorial Hospital on Saturday. He has some spinal cord injuries that is presently causing paralysis in his lower body. He has extreme swelling and possibly this is the cause of the paralysis. Today, Pama wrote in the caringbridge journal http://www.caringbridge.org/ that Andy now has pneumonia in his right lung. I can't imagine what she is going through. Pama is a strong sister in the faith. I prayed this devotional would encourage her.
God's word states in Ps. 56:8 .. "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book."
One thing that I appreciate about my friends is that they care about me. It means a lot when my friends celebrate my joy and empathize with my sadness. At times when I'm sad enough to need a good cry, I feel comfortable letting go around close friends. I find huge encouragement, then in discovering that God cares about my sorrows enough to collect and record my tears. Since our eyes produce an avg. of 10 oz. of lubricating tears perday, God would need a good-sized bottle on days when we shed extra tears! To think that a God who made us and sustains us also collects and records our tears is astounding. He really cares about us.
I googled "tear bottle" and was delightfully surprised to find that there is some history with "tear bottles". The history is captivating and poignant. Tear bottles were prevalent in ancient Rome and Egypt, when mourners would collect their tears and bury them with loved ones to show honor and devotion. Tear bottles re-appeared during the 19th century Victorian era, when tears were collected in bottles with special stoppers; the tears evaporated and once gone, the mourning period ended, but the bottle remained as a token of eternal devotion.
Please keep my friend, Pama and her husband in your prayers.


No comments:

Post a Comment