father to the fatherless

Our family has been together this weekend, and we have cried an ocean of tears. We are sad. We are sad for ourselves. We are sad for Todd. We are sad for the five children who have been left motherless.

Kathy’s birthday was this past week. The card her family made, and left on her grave, broke my heart. I can hardly look at Todd without thinking, “this man has five children, and no wife to help him. I can’t look at Nick and Haden without thinking, “these teenagers need their mom, right now.” I can hardly look at the three little ones without thinking, “these babies have no mother.” I can’t imagine life without a mother. (All that said, though, Todd is doing a wonderful job. He is faithful and diligent, and watchful over his family. He is weary to the bone, but he is pressing on.)

Today is the twins’ birthday. How excited Kathy was about the birth of those two babies. How she took care of them all through these past nine years…through sickness and near death….how she loved them. They had unusual ties to her because of the one-on-one times they spent in hospitals (or on the way to hospitals). They had lost a very significant part of their lives.

But, you know, our Father in heaven is aware of all of this. I believe that He, too, cries bitter tears for our sorrow and loss. He is aware of all the husbands and wives and children who have been left by the most important person in their lives (through death or abandonment). As Psalm 68:5-6, 19 says in the NIV Translation
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families, ....
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

I am especially comforted by the fact that He “sets the lonely in families.” Whether it be a biological family, or the family of God…we need each other….and we need our Father in Heaven.

Father to all, thank you for watching over us and for bearing our burdens.

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