Behind the Poem: Your Touch

Image by BÙI VĂN HỒNG PHÚC from Pixabay

I almost missed it

The touch of your love

So caught up in a world of challenges, duties, tasks

No time to truly relax.

Catching every virus that comes down the pike

Exhausted

Must keep going

The end is not yet in sight….

I almost missed it

Your hand on my shoulder

Burdened by the weight, I can’t think straight

And suddenly I’m feeling a thousand years older…

But I felt it.

You made your presence known

A gentle reminder, a comforting nudge

The full-on embrace of a God who loves…. ❤️

Tina

January 12, 2025

---

As a new Early Childhood Educator you catch everything. Since about mid October I’ve been perpetually sick. I can’t catch a break.

My latest attacker was a stomach flu. It’s not much fun. But this path has been so much more than the latest virus to come down the pike. My work and college load has felt heavy among other things that tend to weigh us humans down.

I’m beat beyond words. I’m not being over dramatic. I’m being human. Flesh and blood is weak and sometimes life becomes challenging, exhausting and really hard, to put it mildly.

There are upsides and downsides to working with the very little “littles.” If you are one of the crowd who views childcare workers as glorified babysitters, then you haven’t worked in childcare. You haven’t walked a mile in the shoes of someone who occupies this early education profession.

But this post isn’t about the profession, or about me per se. It starts with my feelings, the exhaustion, the challenges and struggles which can or can’t be seen and measured from the outside. But there is one who sees it all. He’s the one I call on when the burden is too much and I need strength to carry on.

It was the other night, in my deep unvoiced groanings (after a whirlwind of recent prayers for help) that I received that touch I so desperately needed from God.

It’s felt as if He has been too distant to reach for so long. So this touch brought me to tears when I realised that I received an answer to my please for help. As someone who has felt very close to God, it’s not a good feeling when that season of closeness changes.

You can blame it on me. Maybe I’m not reading my Bible enough, praying enough, listening to music enough, secretly sinning, or whatever…. God knows I’ve blamed myself too.

Or, maybe….

He allowed it so I could feel how devastatingly lonely it feels without His comfort. That may sound mean at first thought. But not if you know God. Not if you understand how He operates.

I’m not suggesting that I have Him figured out. Only that I know Him. Only that I’ve seen His face (metaphorically speaking). What I mean is that He sees the greater good, the bigger need. He works things for the good of all who love him. AND he’s working for the good of those who DON’T yet know Him.

What this means is that sometimes we must go through hard things in order to be there to comfort others. We can’t be there for someone if we haven’t walked a mile in their shoes. They won’t feel comforted. In fact, if you haven’t walked a mile in their shoes and you try to direct their path, more than likely, your lack of true empathy and a true common connection will lead them to feel judged instead of comforted.

My Reminder….

I was struggling with my thoughts. I was struggling with feeling so worn down and still having so far to go. You could say that this path has been emotionally painful. That’s when I was reminded that all of this pain ends. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel even when you can’t see it.

I don’t want to wait till heaven for those tears to be dried and all pain to cease, but this was His reminder. This is not the end of the story. There is an end to suffering. There’s an end to all of the challenges.

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” –Revelation 21:4 NIV

And you know what? It really was comforting, because it filled me with the hope of heaven. It also filled me with hope for the days to come.

God gives us both good times and bad times. I don’t believe these bad times have to be perpetual like these viruses have been!!!!!! 🤢🤢🤢🤢 I think they can serve their purpose, and then a new season comes. If there is purpose in what I’m enduring then it’s going to be for a good reason. 😪😪😪😪😪

God Bless and thank you for reading.

—Tina

God of all Healing Cousel

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. (Revelation 21:4-5 The Message)