Turn your tears into something better

I could feel the tears fill up my eyes as I just stood there in frustration.

I wanted to hold them back, and I think I did a pretty good job at it, as I continued wiping the pile of wet dishes that were on the kitchen counter.

I have been praying for a certain breakthrough in my life for the past couple of years, and I have had to pray through the delays and obstacles that have come, only for another one to take its place soon after.

I have learnt to trust that God is sovereign, and His timing is perfect, but I don’t know why today was different.

As soon as someone in the room mentioned the topic, I found myself getting anxious.

Suddenly, I saw the mountains in front of me that were possibly going to further delay what I wanted. Suddenly, I saw and felt that this battle was just getting harder, and I was losing.

The anxiety turned to deep fear, and the fear gave way to anger, and it was that anger that led to the tears.

I almost wept…right there, in the kitchen, with people still around me.

Many of us have found ourselves in situations like that, haven’t we?

When life’s sorrows surround us and we just want to scream, and shout and let that frustration out; when we want to just weep it away and yell at the top of our lungs – ‘WHY!?’

That’s what I was about to do, until I felt a voice deep in my heart whisper gently – “No”

No?

“No. Not like this.”

“No. Don’t cry out of frustration, or by yourself.”

“Cry to Me.”

“Turn your tears into something better.”

“Turn your tears into a prayer.”

You see, I, like many of you may have been, was in a place where I was angry, and was going to lash out in anger, bitterness and sadness, to simply weep by myself.

And in that moment, there was God, telling me that He was with me, and all I needed to do was to remember that.

I wasn’t told not to cry. I wasn’t told to man up and hold the tears back.

I was simply told to change from crying by myself to crying to Him.

I was told to turn my tears into a prayer.

You see, God can hear tears when words fail.

He sees them, and He remembers them.

You have taken account of my miseries; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

Psalm 56:8

Isn’t that just lovely? He writes them down. He collects my tears, and yours, in a bottle, and He remembers them.

So that one day, those tears will be turned into tears of joy.

So that one day, your mourning will be turned into dancing.

God is with you, as He is with me.

If you must weep, don’t weep by yourself.

If you must weep, weep to Him.

Remember Him in your sadness, and that will make all the difference. Turn those tears into a prayer. Let them go up to Him as an offering. He will not forget you. He never has.

And He will turn your sorrow into joy.