What if it were you?

I felt immensely compelled to share this, it is written by a photographer friend of mine. She gave me permission to use it. She even suggested I fix her grammar and misspellings...I opted not to do that as I want it read the way she wrote it. When we are filled with an overwhelming passion such as she is and we are trying to express it...we don't care about proper grammar or spelling...we only care about releasing, letting go, letting God...so for Brenna..never mind her grammar or her spelling...who really cares???..it's the content that matters. Please read with an open heart, an open mind, think about it..what if it were you...a loved one...pray, don't just walk away. My thanks to Brenna for sharing this, God Bless.


so, i don't want to be "that" person...but i'm fixing to be. a very good friend of mine just found out last night that her young child has cancer. and it doesn't look good, y'all. (if you've seen a good amount of my pics, i promise you've seen pictures of her. i'm not attaching one or sharing their name, because i don't know how much anonymity the family wants right now.) i'm trying to imagine: it's late & i'm reading a story to my kids, she's reading the CT scan. i'm annoyed because i've asked them a thousand times to brush their teeth, she's annoyed because she just now realized how precious those moments were & she wishes she could have them all back again. i'm kissing their foreheads, she's squeezing her daughter's hand lying that it'll "be alright". i'm turning out the light & shutting the door, she's shutting the door & walking into the hall to fall apart & weep. i'm awoken with "mommy, i'm thirsty!", she's awoken with "mommy, i'm scared". i'm saying a prayer for God's will, she's desperately pleading & sobbing on her knees for God to reverse this diagnosis. i'm taking orders from three kids for breakfast, she's sitting in a hospital cafeteria, so numb & in shock, she doesn't even realize she's not eating. you know what made the Cross so different from any other event in history? what made the Cross a radically different idea that set it apart from other "religions" & other deities? God did not express sympathy for our humanity, our foolishness, our dire wickedness, our sinful despair, our selfish nature. nope. he expressed EMPATHY. could you love a deity who sits on his lofty throne, with all his comforts, looking down & saying, "wow. looks like that sucks. i'll keep you in mind." i couldn't. i couldn't love a god who was radically set apart from what it means to suffer. how could he be humble if he was too proud to bear pain? but what about a God who says, "I can do better than remember you, I'll come down & suffer it WITH you." (if you missed it when the movie The Passion of the Christ came out, "passion" actually means "the suffering") when someone is dying, do they want a book of all the answers, or do they want time with everyone they love? they want to be with the PEOPLE they love. answers are meaningless when you're in pain. a reason doesn't bring the reassurance you imagine it would when you're in agony. "okay, here's the book on life's mysteries & all the answers of the universe, including why you're dying...why are you looking at me like that? oh right, because you're still dying." what good is knowledge when you're alone? on your death bed, you don't need an answer, you need the Answerer. you don't need reason, you need PRESSENCE. no book of all the world's secrets will comfort you on your death bed, what will comfort you is your loved ones. there. present. together. you won't suffer alone. that's what happened on the Cross. God said, "I could give you every answer for every evil this world has wrought & do you think that will suddenly make your life perfect? will words change your circumstances & your pain? do you think comfort comes from knowledge, or from presence?" so He became one of us. He became one of us so that TODAY when my friend has a heart that is shattered. shattered into so many fragments she thinks it could never be made whole, the God of the universe can honestly say, "I know. I've BEEN THERE. I've felt the horror of utter agony. I've felt the despair of a shattered heart. I've felt it ALL so that YOU can come to me, pour out your very soul & being & know I actually UNDERSTAND. You can know that when I hung there on that Cross, and I felt ALL the world's PAIN, ALL the world's ANGUISH, ALL the world's HEART ACHE, I felt YOURS. I felt the crushing sorrow of today & knew you would look into your little girl's eyes, those same eyes you looked into the first time you held her, & I knew, even way back then, what your soul would feel & I carried THAT pain for you, so two thousand plus years later, you can know you literally are not feeling this alone. I am Emmanuel: 'God WITH Us.' I am NOT, karma, buddhism, hinduism, islam, ancestor worship, deism, or any other religion that places their deity so removed from creation that they can't be BOTHERED to leave their lofty throne & walk INTO your pain. I am Emmanuel & I will stand WITH you in your sorrow, HOLD you in your agony, CARRY you in your defeat & REMIND you that I already carried today's exact pain before, so you could know that I, unlike any other, am accutely aware of what THIS suffering is. You could know you can trust ME, because I didn't leave you abandoned in your sorrow. No, I actually BORE it." i am reminded that my friend's burden has already been carried. i am reminded that her suffering will not be alone. i am also reminded that we are to love others as Christ loved us. this means we are NOT "sympathetic" but we are "EMPATHETIC". we don't sit on the sidelines & tell our loved ones "wow, looks like that sucks. i'll keep you in mind." we are meant to enter INTO their pain, share it with them, lighten their load & bear their burden. just as Christ did for us. so, if you're still with me (after my possible not-so-subtle-rant on how we as Christians put people "on the prayer list" & then walk away to live our lives) i'm asking you to not just pray for my friend & her daughter who is suffering, but to pray without ceasing. to remember her to our Prince of Peace & if there's something you can offer or do to lessen their load, to contact me & do it! this could very well be your loved one, & still may be some day. something my mom told me has always stuck with me. we ask God, "why ME?!" and the truth is, we should be asking, "why NOT me?!" we are not above the sufferings of this world & our beautiful, special, precious child is NO MORE beautiful, special or precious than any other human being who has ever walked this earth. so we're left with the question: will we be sympathetic, or empathetic?

written by- Brenna Ellis-Wood