We weren’t created to be alone. We need each other. Christ himself knows exactly how it feels to be overwhelmed with sorrow and how to share those deep emotions. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said to his three closest friends: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matt. 26:38, NIV).
Jesus was honest and transparent letting them know what he felt. We can only presume to know his reasons. Maybe he needed support. Maybe he was helping to prepare them for his unfinished story. What we do know is that he shared and asked them to stay awake. Then he went a little farther away to pray: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me” (Luke 22:42). He was not only honest with his most trusted friends, but he pleaded with the Father more deeply and intimately than is possible with another person.
We are all in the middle of something. We weren’t made to suffer through this unfinished journey alone. We were made to be in community. In the same way God spoke the first light into the darkness with his voice, God gave each of us a voice that was created to be heard. To be known. To be understood. God has made a way to meet this need—through you and me. Jesus gave us each other. We don’t have to journey alone. He gives us the ability to carry each other’s burdens.
Bonnie Gray is an author and a member of the (in)courage community. Excerpted from Craving Connection: 30 Challenges for Real-Life Engagement from the (in)courage community. Copyright 2017 B&H Publishing Group.
