Crying

Crying it s a natural emotion we all share, from the time we are born we shed tears for many reasons, hunger, fear, anger, sadness, pain, happiness and much more. Some folks hardly ever cry and some seem to always to be crying.
As a child I cried a lot, most every night I sat up crying unable to sleep. I can remember the loneliness that crying brought with it. I felt as if I had no one and that life was never going to get easier. I was a broken and hurting child and with each tear I shed I drifted farther and farther away from a normal childhood, and farther and farther from the Lord, I thought that He couldn't care about me and let me go through this terrible time in my life alone. In my child's mind I thought He should swoop in and save me like you see in the fair tales. As you know that isn't how life works and looking back I see that He was always there.
One of the first things I learned after I was saved was that I had not shed a tear that God did not hear. The Bible says in Psalms 56:8 Put thou my tears into thy bottle. The Lord spoke to my heart and made me realize that He had carefully bottled every tear I had ever shed. Not even my silent cries had went unnoticed He had heard and bottled them. Just knowing that, during those times in my life that I felt so alone and thought that no one else heard my cries, He was right there with me catching each tear, waiting for me to cry out to Him. Looking back now it is as if I can actually see Him sitting by His heavenly Father in the peacefulness of heaven, enjoying creation, listening to the prayers of the saints as the wind carries them to heavenly heights. All of a sudden, Jesus stands as a concerned look crosses His face, tilting His head slightly to the side He listens intently. A knowing look crosses His face as a tear runs down His cheek; He turns and walks over to a shelf picking up a bottle with my name written on it. He turns toward the Father with a look of pain on His face, The Father nods as if to bid Him go. With His very strong but gentle hand, holding the bottle firmly He slowly extends it toward me here on earth. He brings the bottle close to my face and very gently using His other hand; He brushes my tears into the bottle. Looking at this picture in my minds eye, it gives me great comfort in knowing that I was not alone. It does not change those tearful nights of my childhood but it sure makes it easier to deal with knowing that He was right there all the time catching every tear and sharing my pain.
I am so thankful that even today when my heart is broken and I am crying and lonely He is still catching every one of my tears and sharing my heart ache, and that gives me great comfort and helps me weather the storms of life.