But God understands

Isaiah 40:11, 27-29 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. … How can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? … The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

From the time Karis was small, Isaiah 40 was important to us, she the lamb carried in the Lord’s arms, I the mother sheep He gently led. During long nights in hospitals and surgeries, we knew He was not weak or weary. No matter what our current crisis, dilemma, or grief, we knew He understood what we faced.

Karis with her sisters and cousins at a family reunion in Bolivia, 1992 (age 9). On this trip, Karis started getting sick again, after God gave her (and us!) two years of good health to adapt to living in Brazil. Karis was the oldest of eight granddaughters of Dave’s parents. Dan was their only grandson–adored by all the girls. Age 9 was the year Karis started keeping journals.

Aligned with Isaiah 40, two songs encouraged us. The first one you will likely recognize, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” which contains the beautiful line, “merciful and mighty.” It invoked our “lifeline” verses, Lamentations 3:22-24. We counted on God’s mercy and his power, renewed for us every single day.

The other, “Tu és soberano” (You are sovereign), we learned after we moved to Brazil when Karis was seven. Karis had a profound belief that NOTHING happened to her except by her Father’s permission and for some divine purpose. She was always asking not “Why did this happen to me?” in a self-pitying kind of way, but rather “What purpose does God want to accomplish through this?”

Because she asked this question, she was alert to what was going on around her. Who else was in the hospital this time to whom she could extend love? Who would God bring to her whose troubles she could better understand at a heart level because of her own pain and losses?

“Tu és soberano” includes this beautiful line: “Apesar dessa glória que tens, Tu te importas comigo também, e esse amor tão grande eleva-me, amarra-me a Ti, Tu es tremendo” (Despite the glory you have as Sovereign of the universe, you care about me too, and this love lifts me up and binds me to you. You are amazing).

Tears come to my eyes as I remember singing this beautiful worship song, full-throated, with my beloved brothers and sisters in Brazil. They have been God’s human arms to care for us and lift us to the Father not only while we lived in São Paulo, but through their prayers ever since.

I hope Isaiah 40 will encourage you today too.