Have you ever felt like there’s no end to your tears? Do you feel like you cry by yourself, because no one understands the pain? What about those nights when you sob yourself to sleep – maybe even years after your spouse is gone? You may ask yourself, “Does anyone care that my heart is broken, and I cry?”

Tears are a very real part of our life! We know that tears are a part of grieving the losses we all experience. God created us as emotional beings; it’s part of His image in us that we can laugh and cry, be happy or sad, be brave or fearful.

Sometimes we even shed tears over joyful events! But here’s something you may not have known.

Psalm 56:8 says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Wait! God actually stores my tears in a bottle? Yes, He does! I imagine an enormous room in Heaven filled with shelves and shelves of beautifully colored and sculpted crystal bottles, each one priceless. In these bottles are stored all the tears of all the saints for all time. The All-Knowing God who inhabits every second of time and eternity keeps track of every moment of sorrow that affects my life here on earth, and He saves every tear I shed in a bottle! Furthermore, He makes note of each one and why it was shed.

Tears are important to God. He speaks of them nearly 50 times in the scriptures and refers to crying or weeping nearly 400 times! Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” So, weep freely when your heart needs it.

God sees our tears, and He hears our cries. They are so important that He keeps them and includes them in the record books of Heaven. But there is good news about tears! Tears are Temporary! There will come a day when our tears of sorrow will become tears of joy. John 16:20 says, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

There will come a day when all the pain and devastation caused by sin in this world will be gone. The time for mourning and grieving will be past. Isaiah 25:8 tells us, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces.” And even more, Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

I don’t know about you, but I look forward to that day with great anticipation. Meanwhile, our hearts mourn our losses, and our eyes shed many tears – in fact, enough to fill a bottle! It’s a great comfort, though, to realize that not one tear is wasted. God sees every single one, and He makes note. They are precious in His sight, as His heart beats with ours. He’s waiting to speak hope into our sorrow, and to turn our mourning into dancing.

Today, let’s choose to let Him begin to infuse us with that wonderful, faith-filled hope that can cause us not only to live, but to truly thrive again. He has purpose yet for each one, and our mission is to find the new pathway for this season. Join me today in turning our eyes towards Him and allowing Him to comfort and redirect our sorrows into joy.

As always, you can contact me at sheryl@freshhope.us.