Deeper Still

Yesterday afternoon, one of our young ladies at My Refuge House tried to harm herself after being very distressed about her current situation. A few of our residents have a history of cutting themselves using sharp objects to inflict personal pain. For them, there are no other ways to express their pain than to inflict it upon themselves. You can see reminders on their arms and wrists - the physical scars are deep - the emotional pain deeper still. For our staff, caring for the hurting is very overwhelming work. It seems like whatever words of encouragement that come to mind are not enough. The pain is indeed deep and healing and restoration is no where in sight.

And then I am reminded of the only One who can bring healing to the hurting. I came across a passage from II Corinthians 1 to remind me of this. I love the paraphrase from the The Message:

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.

I love that God is the "God of all healing counsel." And that He is a God that "comes alongside us" so we can come alongside others in their time of pain. Please continue to pray for us here as we come alongside these young women.

"There is no pit so deep but Christ is deeper still." Corrie Ten Boom

I love this quote and have used it as a point of reflection in previous blog posts:

March 30, 2009 The Death of My Auntie Beth
May 15, 2008 - Where is God is our Suffering?
May 16, 2008 - Where is God in Gripping Poverty?