FOUR LITTLE WORDS

Sitting in Cook County Division 11 waiting to visit one of my youth, I looked around and saw so much pain in the faces, words and body posture of those waiting with me to see someone who was in even more pain than we were. I not only saw it, but I felt it in my very spirit and aching heart.

Actually this week was full of pain. I was surrounded by hurting people who have no escape from the pain that engulfs them, pain that has become a comfort zone, that has simply paralyzed them from seeing possibility and opportunity. Sometimes the pain is so great, its like driving on a highway on a foggy day with zero visibility so that you can’t even see the car directly in front of you.

This week alone:

I held a very depressed young man who cried in my arms as he was awaiting his fate for his court case….

I talked on the phone with a beautiful young lady in so much pain she has rebelled against everything she believes in and feels lost in this world…

I had a one sided conversation with someone who is desperately trying to push me away because its the only way he knows how to protects his heart and the world he feels safe in by not letting anyone get too close…

I sat behind a thick prison glass window with a youth who experienced joy in seeing me…but tears when he knew our time was coming to an end…the pain of not being able to hug him – which he has desperately longed for for 9 months….

This week alone, I learned the power of 4 little words that brought tears to at least three of those above situations:

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

There is something about these words that releases the pain being held in the hearts of people. Pain that is being protected like a prison inmate behind bars, like a heirloom in a safety deposit box, like a car alarm on a brand new Benz. Pain is a comfort zone for many people and for many people, its all they know. I see so many young people who truly have accepted, that without pain in their day-to-day life, something is out of order…so they sabotage a perfectly wonderful day or relationship in order to feel “normal.”

But I have seen these four little words allow someone to put down their guard, if only for a minute, allow the pain to be released and become vulnerable – even trusting – in the arms of the one who utters these words of comfort.

There is something about these four little words that brings comfort. In one of Maya Angelou’s poems she states “No one, but no one can make it out here alone.” Even the Word of God says “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  We were not created to be alone but to be in community, to be together. But somehow the enemy has convinced many of us that we are alone.

Telling someone they are not alone reassures them that they are cared for, that someone is concerned about what happens to them and that there is a genuine commitment to walk with them through their pain. It doesn’t mean you have the answer to their problems or a miracle pill to make it better…it simply means “I will not abandon you.”

Tell someone today that they are not alone…

and understand everything that that may mean to a person who has lied to themselves and believes that they are.

Thinking of you….you know who are you…I believe in you, I’m here for you,

I will love you through your pain towards your healing….

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and let us remember the promises of the faithful God we serve:

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:5-6