Hopeful-Ish: Finding Jesus in Sadness and Painಮಾದರಿ

Invisible Friendship

Some of the most powerful ways I’ve seen and experienced Jesus have absolutely been through His followers. But a personal, intimate, one-on-one in the middle of the night thing with Jesus has held me together during the seasons I’ve felt most alone.

The beautiful truth of Psalm 139 comes to mind when I think about “what a friend I have in Jesus,” to quote an old hymn. David wrote, “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away” (Ps. 139:1–2).

One of the most comforting realities of a friendship with God, to me, is that I don’t have to explain anything. Sometimes I can’t. Even still, He knows and understands. He gets us when we can’t even get the words out. He intercedes for us when we don’t know what to say. How incredible is that?

If I’m allowed to have a favorite verse, this is my favorite reality about who we are in Jesus: "And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ''Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God’s friend" (James 2:23).

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. (Rom. 5:11 NLT)

What a blessing to get to be a friend of God. God is the only friend who can literally read your mind. “In our weakness.” “He intercedes.” He’s the only friend who can intercede with the Father, asking things you don’t even know to ask, on your behalf.

And our all-knowing, future-seeing God knew all the ways in which David would fail Him when He called David to Himself. So this just goes to reinforce the truth we see all over the Bible—that our friendship with God is not about our performance or our goodness. In the biggest ways...“In our weakness.” “He intercedes.”

The sadness that comes with friendship loss in this life is to be expected. But we can rejoice in our friendship with God, even during seasons when we feel alone. Sadness is natural. But hope in the midst of sadness is a supernatural gift from our perfect, never-leaving, always-loving Friend. “In our weakness.” “He intercedes.”

Thank you for reading!

This plan was adapted from Hopeful-ish by author Scarlet Hiltibidal. Click here to learn more or purchase your copy.