Blessed Are You Who Have Suffered
My tears have been my food day and night - Psalm 42:3
The psalmist is demoralized, tired of suffering, tired of pain, tired of tears. And for good reason. Things have gone wrong, there’s been betrayal, the losses have piled up.
But just maybe there’s nourishment in those tears. Maybe this image of tears as food is not simply about sadness - it’s about transformation as well.
Take some time to ponder that as you read this provocative poem. As the Spirit what you might need from God today.
Blessed are you who have suffered
KJ Ramsey
Blessed are you who have suffered
for within your soul are storehouses
of the stories you have survived.
When darkness shadows the harvest
of your hardest years,
you can still dip deep
into the grain of your grief
and plumb the well of your tears.
Taste the truth of your persistence.
Swallow the strength that brought you here.
Digest the discouragement of today.
And then hope will appear.
You are more than the stories
that have shaped you.
But because of them, you grew.
Inside your soul is a silo.
You've always held
more strength
than you knew.