what i know for sure

in every issue of o magazine, oprah has a column called "what i know for sure". i was thinking the other day what i would write if i was her. how would i come up with so many things that i know for sure? there is a lot i think i know for sure but i just wonder ... what do i really know for sure. so here is what i know for sure ... today ....

there are a lot of hurting people in the world. 2 of my closest friends have lost something very precious to them over the last couple of months. they are hurting. they are in serious pain. pain that is transforming who they are. another couple of friends are still grieving a loss of a loved one. i know someone who just lost their job, i struggle with money and loneliness, i know a family who have worked their whole lives as hard as they could only to be struggling now, and i know a Father who watches His children fail time after time ... all of us are hurting. there is hurt in a fallen world. this is one thing i know for sure.

i don't have all the answers and i never will. i don't understand how or why. my heart breaks with my friends as if it were my own pain. i see their eyes and i feel what they feel. the hardest thing when you are hurting is allowing others to help you carry your load. i don't know if we feel like we need to be punished or if we deserve the pain, but i just wish my friends would let me carry a little bit of their load for them. my current pain is nothing compared ... i can take it. i want to help. why won't they let me help?

for all the pain there is love. i can do few things right in my life but one thing i believe i can do is love. do i love too much ... to hard sometimes? yes. i do. and in this process of loving people who might not really want it i find my intentions lost in translation. i want to get my point across so badly. i want everyone to be loved like they deserve. there were so many times a little love would have healed it all.

i suppose just as i know that there is hurt in this world i also know i cannot fix it. all i can do is lean on the understanding that the Lord will never leave us. he will never let us down and he will never give us more than we can handle ... no matter what our current circumstances might be telling us.

so what i know for sure is that there is pain BUT there is love and there is comfort in the arms of our Savior. no matter your pain. or your loss. or your confusion ... there is hope. allow people to help you along the way. trust the Lord and don't allow the darkness to take over. the new light that will be given to you soon will be brighter than any you have ever seen before ... it's not worth giving up now ...

this i know for sure.