Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your sorrow has been heard and I have carried your words before the Lord with a heavy heart. The pain of missing your children, waking from dreams of them into sadness and depression, the exhaustion of difficulty after difficulty, and the feeling that every step has been suffering is a deep affliction. It is right to bring all of this honestly to God as you have done.
A father’s grief for his children burns intensely. Scripture speaks of travailing again for those we love, like a mother in birth pangs, and that grief, though bitter in itself, shows the depth of love God has placed in a father’s heart. You are not forgotten in this. The Lord sees your tears, He hears the many times you have prayed for your wife by name in the name of Christ, and He knows your longing to be lifted up.
You asked for prayer, and we will continue to pray with perseverance for you. We are taught to pray at all seasons in the Spirit and to watch with all perseverance, not limiting prayer to certain times but praying without ceasing. Remember the widow who by her importunity prevailed, the friend who at midnight shamed his friend into yielding by his perseverance, and the Syrophoenician woman who by the constancy of her entreaty called forth the Lord’s compassion. They gained their object by importunity, and though we may feel unworthy, we often by perseverance are made ready to receive what God in His wisdom will give. Keep bringing your children, your wife, and your own weary soul before Him day and night. He who spoke the world into existence and commanded and it stood fast is able to move mountains and to sustain you one step at a time.
You mentioned feeling like Job, exhausted and asking God either to lift you up or to take you. Nothing so casts down a soul possessed by deep despondency as when painful words and thoughts are continually dwelt upon. Yet our hope is that our separation and suffering here is not the end. Christ spoke of going to the Father as a kind of translation, not perishing, and He promised that a little while of separation would give way to joy again. Even when we cannot understand His ways in the moment, whether through grief or the obscurity of our trials, He is testing and proving us and gently accustoming us to trust Him more fully. Your faith in Christ, your years of preaching His word, and your trust that He has the power to act are not in vain. God honors marriage as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and He honors a father’s faithful love for his children. He will be your strength when you have no strength left.
So we pray now for you, that the Lord would lift you up from exhaustion and deep sadness, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, give you rest and renewed hope, and protect your children where they are. We pray for your wife, that God would work in her heart according to His truth and mercy, and for a just and merciful path forward for your family. We pray that God would surround you with faithful brothers and sisters who will stand with you, listen to you, and help bear this burden.
Please do not carry this alone. Stay close to a local pastor and to trusted believers who can walk with you in person, and if the sadness and desire to leave this life grows heavy, please reach out right away to someone near you or to a counselor. If you are in the United States you can call or text 988 to be connected with help at any hour. Your life is precious to God and to His people, and you are needed.
We will keep praying for you with perseverance, asking the Lord to show you His nearness, to give you daily bread for each step, and to bring comfort to your nights and mornings until He brings relief in His perfect time.
A father’s grief for his children burns intensely. Scripture speaks of travailing again for those we love, like a mother in birth pangs, and that grief, though bitter in itself, shows the depth of love God has placed in a father’s heart. You are not forgotten in this. The Lord sees your tears, He hears the many times you have prayed for your wife by name in the name of Christ, and He knows your longing to be lifted up.
You asked for prayer, and we will continue to pray with perseverance for you. We are taught to pray at all seasons in the Spirit and to watch with all perseverance, not limiting prayer to certain times but praying without ceasing. Remember the widow who by her importunity prevailed, the friend who at midnight shamed his friend into yielding by his perseverance, and the Syrophoenician woman who by the constancy of her entreaty called forth the Lord’s compassion. They gained their object by importunity, and though we may feel unworthy, we often by perseverance are made ready to receive what God in His wisdom will give. Keep bringing your children, your wife, and your own weary soul before Him day and night. He who spoke the world into existence and commanded and it stood fast is able to move mountains and to sustain you one step at a time.
You mentioned feeling like Job, exhausted and asking God either to lift you up or to take you. Nothing so casts down a soul possessed by deep despondency as when painful words and thoughts are continually dwelt upon. Yet our hope is that our separation and suffering here is not the end. Christ spoke of going to the Father as a kind of translation, not perishing, and He promised that a little while of separation would give way to joy again. Even when we cannot understand His ways in the moment, whether through grief or the obscurity of our trials, He is testing and proving us and gently accustoming us to trust Him more fully. Your faith in Christ, your years of preaching His word, and your trust that He has the power to act are not in vain. God honors marriage as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and He honors a father’s faithful love for his children. He will be your strength when you have no strength left.
So we pray now for you, that the Lord would lift you up from exhaustion and deep sadness, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, give you rest and renewed hope, and protect your children where they are. We pray for your wife, that God would work in her heart according to His truth and mercy, and for a just and merciful path forward for your family. We pray that God would surround you with faithful brothers and sisters who will stand with you, listen to you, and help bear this burden.
Please do not carry this alone. Stay close to a local pastor and to trusted believers who can walk with you in person, and if the sadness and desire to leave this life grows heavy, please reach out right away to someone near you or to a counselor. If you are in the United States you can call or text 988 to be connected with help at any hour. Your life is precious to God and to His people, and you are needed.
We will keep praying for you with perseverance, asking the Lord to show you His nearness, to give you daily bread for each step, and to bring comfort to your nights and mornings until He brings relief in His perfect time.
