Rain...or tears?

Sometimes my heart just hurts. Like tonight. Sometimes I ask "Why?" Like now. Sometimes the only thing I can do is cry. Like I have been.

It's time like these that I ask God the most questions. I'm always wondering something, but the times I fight the fear and doubt the most are nights like these...when I feel like my heart's tears are proportionate to the rain pouring from the sky.

When a little girl comes to the door searching for her sisters...one not much older than her own 10 years, who is somewhere with their infant sister. When asked where her mother is, she replies she is working late. When asked where her father is, she replies in the same factual manner: he's in jail.

The lightning is flashing as though someone is turning a light switch on and off outside. The rain is steady and being swirled around by the angry wind. She doesn't know where her sisters are, but it isn't keeping her from riding her bike around in the storm to search. I wanted to do nothing but hold that little child close and cry and never let her go.

All three girls are safe and at home now. The storm has died down a bit. My tears have gone for the moment. But the questions are still there...the pain is still real. It makes all the little concerns and priorities I have seem so very trivial.

It's times like these that I hurt and feel helpless to really change anything, yes. But I am so thankful that I know Someone who is in control of it all. Who has a plan. Who has all the answers.

And Who has been and is holding those precious children close and shedding a few tears of His own.