“But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.”
-Psalm 73:28
I’ve spent the past few years visiting some of the deepest pain in my own story via counseling - going to places I thought it might kill me to revisit because they were so painful. But as I traveled to the places in my heart that had been split wide open like a Canyon, I encountered the nearness of God in those very places I had avoided. I ended up encountering a presence of Love that brought healing and hope and new life to the very places that felt like death.
As I allowed myself to simply breathe and grieve and lament some of my deepest wounds, I encountered the tenderness and empathy of God. As for me, it is GOOD to be near God. He has been my safest place to run, my comfort, my hope, my refuge. I have so many stories to tell about His kindness to me in my most broken places. He’s held me and guided me. He’s breathed new life into my lungs when I felt too weary to keep going. He’s listened. He’s wept with me, and I’ll never be able to shake the way I’ve been embraced in some of my saddest places or the way I’ve experienced peace when I was falling to pieces. I’ve encountered God in the valley over and over again, and because of that, I’ve learned to sing there… songs of lament, songs of deep sorrow, songs of gratitude, and ultimately songs of JOY grounded even in the pit of my deepest sorrow. This is still a mystery to me, but one of my favorite things about being near to God… having Joy and Hope that are grounded in an empty grave.
