For the G's - One Alabaster Jar

I've been reading some Job lately, and I'm starting to see what morons his friends were.  He's lamenting his situation, trying to figure out what went wrong, and all his friends can give him are solutions on how to fix the problem.  How his actions just aren't good enough, his thoughts aren't correct, and really, his God just isn't big enough to care or listen or handle his frustration.

My dear sweet friends, the G's, have lost their baby.  This little one would have been born in January.  There had been some complications, but they wanted to have the baby God wanted them to have - problems and all.  And now this child we never knew is back in the hand of God.

I've been here in Maryland now for 4 weeks -- this is the first time I've cried.  My heart is broken, my soul is crushed, and my spirit yearns to be revived.  I love this family and their children are just as precious to me as if they were my own.  And now, I'll never know one of them.

Yet, my tears can't begin to match those I anticipate to fall on the cheeks of my friends.  The single solace I can provide is this:

Psalm 56:8

You keep track of all of my sorrows

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book.

Our God is big enough - to take the blows, to hold the heart, and to catch every tear - cherishing and valuing the fullness of each drop.

So, cry, my dear, precious friends.  And know there is a beautiful jar being held by our great God.  One alabaster jar.