Collected Tears

“I know He’s there, I know He hears us, and He’s collecting our tears…and sometimes that has to be enough.”

I wrote this in an email to a friend a couple of weeks ago, after a particularly difficult evening. Although I didn’t look through Scripture at the time, I specifically remembered a verse that says God collects our tears.

Since that evening, I’ve been thinking about it and rereading the verse.

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 56:8 NLT

If I’m honest, part of me kept thinking, So? What good does that do? But, as I’ve been pondering the verse, I realize now that there’s a deeper, richer meaning.

I started thinking of a friend who listens to another’s heartache. Without interrupting or trying to fix it, she just listens and validates the feelings being expressed.

She lets her friend cry without judgement or condemnation. There’s no shaming for how she feels because emotions are real, even if someone else can’t fully understand them.

This friend provides comfort and compassion. She offers strength and encouragement. She prays with her, and for her. She encourages her friend to keep moving forward, despite everything threatening to hold her back.

This is an amazing friend…but God is so much more.

God listens to our heartache. He gives us His full attention and is not distracted by multiple things going on, or other things on His to-do list. {Tweet this}

He lets us cry and fall asleep from fatigue, then encourages us to get back up and keep trying.

Although He can fix it, He often doesn’t because He knows that what we have to walk through will lead us to places we never imagined we could go.

He doesn’t judge or condemn, even when He shows us where we need to change our actions or way of thinking.

He keeps track of our sorrows with love and compassion, but He does not keep record of our sins—also out of love and compassion.

There is no shaming for how we feel, because He knows our emotions are real. He created us to feel, and knows some of His children feel deeper than others. He collects our tears, knowing and understanding what caused them. {Tweet this}

God stays close with comfort and support, while giving strength and encouragement. He knows when it’s time to rest, when it’s time to persevere, and when it’s time to move forward.

He sees everything threatening to hold us back, but knows the future He has planned for us…and knows that one day, all tears will be dried.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.

Revelation 21:4 NLT

In Christ,

Laura

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