The Last Chapter

My Monday morning study FINALLY finished Job.  Let the heavens rejoice and be glad!  We were SO over suffering by that last week.  And guess who got to teach said last week?  Yep.  The questionably great (but sometimes helpful) guide gave me discussion topics/queries to read aloud.  For instance: “What have you learned from this book of the Bible?”

Aaaand silence.

Crickets chirping.

Job is hard.  While he DID ultimately get rewarded for his patient endurance, it remains that no new blessing could entirely compensate for his incredible loss.  Even though the book ends with his fortune, family, and reputation being rebuilt on a grander scale than before, I wonder how he coped with that kind of emotional whiplash?  Because his season of sorrow wasn’t simply erased after life started getting good again.

I never thought of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, in regard to this kind of suffering until recently.  A devotional (correctly) pointed out that she dealt with infertility until she was 90.  (Well really, 89 years and some change.  But at that point, who’s counting?)  We’re talking DECADES of her longing to have a child and then -BAM- a newborn at 90 years old.  Her first and only son, Isaac, must have seemed like the punchline to a cosmic joke (which, incidentally, is part of the story behind his name’s origin: Laughter).  Or maybe she didn’t see things that way (Read: The way I would).  Perhaps Sarah was blissfully focused on the miraculous timing for her much awaited child.

I tend to mentally photoshop the image and character of people in the Bible.  Imagining them to be all Bible-y, like fake, perfect robo-humans absent of true emotion or feeling.  2 dimensional flannelboard pieces for God to move around at will.  We can rob meaning from Scripture this way, forgetting that these were REAL people coping with life.  Now perhaps their life circumstances were extraordinary, but THEY themselves were not.  The Bible repeats this time and again: God doesn’t choose people based on their power, intelligence, wealth, or good looks.  He takes the weak, the lowly, the outcasts and asks them to be obedient.  Then things start happening.

I say all that to say this: Do you remember our friends, the Detrows, who have been tirelessly petitioning to bring their daughter Leticia back from Uganda?  They finally got the news they’d been waiting over a year and a half to hear.  Their daughter can come home.

Kris called me and just said, “Guess what?”  Obviously, I knew.  We both cried and cried.  Their season of sadness and waiting was over at last.  I kept saying, “I am so happy for you!”  She kept saying, “Your daughter is going to be next!”

Finally together!!

I got to walk through this adversity with my friend.  It was horrible.  Emotionally depleting.  Frustrations ran high…..with God, with the system, within relationships.  That’s the reality of a situation like this.  It’s exhausting and seems like it will never come to an end.  For those familiar with suffering that sentiment rings true.  The specifics of our circumstances may greatly differ, but grief carves out kindred spirits.  It gives you invaluable perspective and insight.  So when Kris tells me, “Your daughter is coming home next,” I don’t roll my eyes in irritation at her naivety.  I take it in, savoring the confidence from someone WHO KNOWS this road, and say “Thank you.”  Because there were many times that I had to believe in Leticia’s homecoming, as Kris was simply too beaten down to believe it for herself.  This is what we do for each other.  People were probably lining up to hear from Job and Sarah, considering their above average amount of “going through” advice.  I’m guessing their words of wisdom were deeply cherished by any weak or frazzled friends.

The Job guide did mention something worth sharing: Regardless the story, God writes the last chapter.  No reunion, rebuilding, healing, or restoration is out of the question.  However, if you care about the safety of your internal organs, I’d strongly argue against cheerfully declaring “God works everything together for good!” at anyone in dire straits.  We aren’t flat flannelboard people with glossed-over experiences.  This is real life; consider your words carefully. (Chapters 1-37 of Job stand as a warning: Don’t let your stupid advice go down in history.)  Our human scope of God’s works is limited.  Sometimes the fulfillment of an amazing “final chapter” won’t transpire until Heaven.  So instead, pray your heart out.  Match hurting people up with Jobs and Sarahs when you can.  Or remember YOUR own grief and meet them there.  Perspective, perspective, perspective. 

Friends, I don’t know what you are going through.  I’m no Job, Sarah, or even Kris.  But I’ve seen adoptive families united and I’ve seen adoptions fall through.  I’ve watched cancer be cured from some and completely devastate others.  I’ve stood in weddings, for marriages, that later ended in divorce.  I’ve seen children suffer in sickness, succeed in school, fail to connect.  These are the highs and lows that define our lives.  It is easy to think that there is no meaning behind it, no method to the madness.  It is easy to think that THIS (Whatever your current “this” happens to be) will last forever.  Honestly, I can’t tell you otherwise.  We don’t know what life holds.  But we can know the One who holds the pen, who writes the closing page in each of our stories.  What a comfort to be in the hands of such an accomplished Author.  Get familiar with His words because you *might* recognize yourself within them, perhaps through the lens of another's journey.  And if Sarah could wait 90 years for that sweet baby in her arms, I can certainly wait 3 more.

 

Leticia signing about the "Last Chapter" of her adoption story.

As you can tell, there's A LOT of love <3