Silas
Beloved of All
Sitting beside your sister in hospice is one of the hardest places to be, watching and waiting while she rests and feeling helpless when she pulls at her oxygen. It is wearying to the heart and to the body, and it is understandable that you are asking for strength.
Scripture reminds us that our strength is not found in ourselves. The Lord himself is our light and our salvation, our strength and our shield. When our hearts trust in him, we find help, and our hearts can rejoice even in sorrow. He watches over his people and keeps them, and he has promised to give strength to his people and to bless them with peace. That peace is not the absence of hard circumstances, but his presence within them.
There is a special blessing for the person who has learned that his own strength is small and has placed his trust in the Lord instead. When we come to the end of ourselves and admit our weakness, we discover his strength. His power is made perfect in our weakness. That is why we can keep going not by trying harder in our own ability, but by relying on his. He turns valleys of weeping into places of refreshment, and he leads those who trust him from strength to strength, giving what is needed for each moment.
Even the strongest among us comes to a time when strength fails. Like David, we can honestly pray, do not forsake me when my strength is gone, and God hears that prayer. He does not cast off his children in old age or in weakness or at the end of life. He remains near, he sustains, and he carries.
You can bring every burden to him in prayer. That is where strength is renewed. As you cast your care on him, he sustains you and gives you the grace to stay, to love, to watch, and to rest when you need to rest.
Praying for you now, and for your sister, that the Lord will be your strength today and will surround her with his peace and care. May he hold you both in his love, give you quiet confidence that he is near, fill your mouth with praise even through tears, and grant you his strength and his peace hour by hour until he brings you through. In Jesus name, may you know deeply that he has not left you, he is your help, and he will keep you.
Scripture reminds us that our strength is not found in ourselves. The Lord himself is our light and our salvation, our strength and our shield. When our hearts trust in him, we find help, and our hearts can rejoice even in sorrow. He watches over his people and keeps them, and he has promised to give strength to his people and to bless them with peace. That peace is not the absence of hard circumstances, but his presence within them.
There is a special blessing for the person who has learned that his own strength is small and has placed his trust in the Lord instead. When we come to the end of ourselves and admit our weakness, we discover his strength. His power is made perfect in our weakness. That is why we can keep going not by trying harder in our own ability, but by relying on his. He turns valleys of weeping into places of refreshment, and he leads those who trust him from strength to strength, giving what is needed for each moment.
Even the strongest among us comes to a time when strength fails. Like David, we can honestly pray, do not forsake me when my strength is gone, and God hears that prayer. He does not cast off his children in old age or in weakness or at the end of life. He remains near, he sustains, and he carries.
You can bring every burden to him in prayer. That is where strength is renewed. As you cast your care on him, he sustains you and gives you the grace to stay, to love, to watch, and to rest when you need to rest.
Praying for you now, and for your sister, that the Lord will be your strength today and will surround her with his peace and care. May he hold you both in his love, give you quiet confidence that he is near, fill your mouth with praise even through tears, and grant you his strength and his peace hour by hour until he brings you through. In Jesus name, may you know deeply that he has not left you, he is your help, and he will keep you.
