Cry Out to Jesus

After dropping Granddaddy off at his church, I was headed back to the house to get ready to go to mine when I passed a house with an assortment of inflatable Christmas decorations...you know the six-foot Santa, the Christmas Merry-Go-Round and of course the giant Frosty. As I approached, I could tell Frosty was holding something in his hand, but I couldn't tell what it was until I got closer. It was a candy cane-outstretched like he was offering it to someone, only the air had seeped out and the candy cane was drooping, just like the real ones when they're broken in half, but still hanging on by the plastic wrapper. It hit me that sometimes we look like that to God. Holding out our broken lives saying "Here you go, God. It's broken, but it's all I've got."

When I was a child, there was a song by the Gaithers that I loved called "Give Them All." I can't remember all the words, but the chorus went something like this,

Give them all,
Give them all
Give them all to Jesus.
Shattered dreams
Wounded hearts
And broken toys.
Give them all
Give them all
Give them all to Jesus,
And He will turn
Your sorrows
Into joys.

I was too young to understand the shattered dreams and wounded hearts part, but I got the broken toys. Now that I'm older, the toys aren't so much what I mourn, but the disappointments in life make me feel like that inflatable Frosty holding out my droopy candy cane saying, "God, can you fix it, or better yet, can I have a new one?"

The problem of pain exists and it's not getting better this side of Heaven. We're all victims, 100%, of the pain, sorrow and frustration that plagues humanity and while we may be aware that the ultimate cause is sin, and that we live in a fallen world, it's hard to find comfort in that. The only way to find comfort is to bring our sorrows to the Cross.

We often think of the Cross as only a place to get our sins forgiven and have our way paid to Heaven, but the truth is that not only was our redemption purchased there, but all the effects of sin were washed away there. We can have peace in the midst of trouble if we take our anxieties to Christ. Even if the sorrow is our own doing and we have failed miserably, God can redeem our biggest failures and make something beautiful come of them.

So many books and songs have been written addressing this very situation of humanity. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis; Where's God When it Hurts by Philip Yancey; When God Doesn't Make Sense by James Dobson...and the list goes on.

The CD in my car's stereo right now has a song by Third Day called "Cry out to Jesus." It says no matter your situation, whether you are sad because of a tragic death, stuck in a marriage that isn't working out, fighting an addiction that won't let go or just plain lonely, the answer is to cry out to Jesus.

So, if you're feeling like Frosty with your broken candy cane of a life and there seems to be no light at the end of your tunnel, I pray you'll cry out to Jesus and let Him turn your sorrows into joys.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).