Today I wanted to bring a brief word of encouragement to those of you who might have experienced a significant loss in your life, be it a spouse, a child, a job, and the like. This is not an academic subject. One day things will happen to you that will cut your legs out from under you. As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 4:7, "We are like fragile clay jars" (NLT). That's all we are. I'm just as fragile today as when I lost Becky 11 years ago. I'm just as human as when we first got her diagnosis. I'm just as given to discouragement now as I was then. By the grace of God I've stayed on my feet, but there've been times when I wondered if I could stay the course. Why? Because I'm a clay jar. Clay jars make it clear to all that their power "is from God, not from ourselves." Thus Paul adds, "We are hard pressed on every side but not completely cornered or without room for movement, embattled but never driven to surrender, bewildered but not at our wit's end, at a loss but never totally at a loss, hounded by the foe but not left to his mercy, knocked to the ground but not permanently grounded." That's life. That will happen. And in the midst of it all, God will still use us in all our brokenness.
So let people see the cracks in your life. Let them see the pain. In the midst of your loss and grief, just keep your equilibrium. Don't give in to despair. You say, "I've come to the end of my strength." That's a good thing. God's sovereignty allows us to believe that he's bigger than our loss and will make our lives better because of it.