From Friday to Sunday; From the Cross to the Empty Tomb; From Hopelessness to Hope

Good Friday.

Oh this day!  It grips my heart and brings me to a place of complete humility before God.  My life has been all too familiar with grief and loss, yet I have always had hope. 

I try to imagine what it would have been like in that space between the cross and the empty tomb.  Three days of utter hopelessness.  Wishing. Hoping. Gut wrenching cries of loss and mourning.  The fatigue that comes with grief, headaches, nausea, and muscle aches.  The haunting memories of what your loved one suffered. Images flashing through the mind like scenes from a horror movie.  Most of all the guilt. The guilt of not being there, of not doing enough. Guilt of not fighting hard enough, "there must have been something else I could have done".  The pain of the reality that we were not enough to protect or save our loved one is unbearable.  What we wouldn't do now to trade places.

I'm sure the Disciples and those close to the Savior faced these, and greater feelings.

That place between the cross and the empty tomb is a place where many of us live.  We live in grief, sadness, hopelessness...utter darkness.  When we reach the point where we feel we can finally find some sort of comfort we come to find out that that ONE thing we sought after is gone. 

Seeing that the body of Jesus was gone, Mary begged the angels to return Him.  It was the one thing she looked forward to that would bring her comfort and it was gone.  She was so desperate and broken that she didn't recognize her Savior speaking to her.  Then He speaks her name and the miracle is revealed....hope breaks through!  A resurrected Savior once again tangible, the breath of life, speaking the name of a friend.

We have desperate nights and heavy days. We seek after things which cannot comfort us, but there is an end to our hopelessness, our darkness.  When we follow the cross to the empty tomb we will find our Savior waiting for us and ready to call out our name. An impossible dream come true.  Life. Hope. Light. Peace and joy.  

While seeking comfort in my time of sheer panic, grief, darkness and hopelessness, I've heard Him call my name and witnessed the light of Hope break through.  If you just listen, you will hear yours too.