Jesus Wept

John 11:35 (NKJV)

35 Jesus wept.

This verse comes from the story of Lazarus who had died. He was the brother of Martha and Mary, all of which were friends to Jesus. The shortest verse in The Bible, yet it has great importance. The words, Jesus wept, shows the humanity of Jesus as tears fell down His face for His friends. It shows Jesus understood grief and He could weep as one who loved another.

My Mother-In-Law passed away last Monday around 3:30PM at the age of 86. We know her life was slowly stolen by either Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

For over a year had not been able to walk. For months she had not been able to get out of bed. For months she was only able to take small bites of food, and then she stopped eating. She was not able to communicate clearly. She had trouble breathing. She was in constant pain and she was only able to take drops of water at a time. We watched her decline, we had done all we could do without prolonging agony and suffering. Naturally we grieved for her as the disease was taking her life.

She left behind a husband of 61 years, along with a son and his wife, a daughter and her husband, 5 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren.  We were all deeply grieved by her death. Her husband especially feels the emptiness and the loss of her presence; even though he knows she is in a better place; it is still difficult for him.

Jesus understands our grief. He saw the pain of the family after Lazarus had passed away. Jesus wept as He mourned with them. I believe Jesus also wept because He planned to perform a miracle that would take Lazarus from a beautiful place of eternity and place him back into this harsh world.

Remember Our Savior loves us and understands the pains of life. Jesus is always listening to our prayers and feels our tears. Know that His love, grace and mercy can sustain us through the most difficult of times, because Jesus faced the most difficult of times. Jesus faced those difficult times for our sake, so we could spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease. I personally have lost family members to Alzheimer’s and I know others who have loss family dear to them because of it.

Please remember these people in prayer. If you are able to give, please donate to www.alz.org or other charitable organizations such as http://www.leezascareconnection.org/ and even read more about this disease at http://www.alzheimers.gov/ which informs and guides families. May God bless you and ease any grief you may be experiencing.