We sat for hours discussing what needed to be done. Years earlier, we had felt the sting of death as one of our cousins succumbed to his addiction. Fortunately, his brother had beaten the that which had a hold on him and started a sober life of hope. But now, another cousin was struggling, a different struggle, yet just as painful. There we sat, concerned cousins, a distraught mother, a struggling sister, trying to concoct a plan that would help him get better.

All he wanted was to be accepted and loved by a father who all but abandoned him. He wanted to be shown that he was loved by the one person who turned his back on him when he was but a child. When you look into his eyes, you see the pain, the anguish, the hopelessness. No one can on earth can fill that void and neither could the alcohol. He knew we were trying, so he tried shutting us out.

We would like to think that life never gets that hard, that we would never get to a place where we use something to numb the pain. But, even the writer of Psalm 6, knows it happens. The writer cries out from his agony and seeks the one place where hope is found – the creator of all life, God. He goes from acknowledging his “languishing,” to finding strength that God has heard him. I wish we could all move so quickly, but sometimes it takes time. Time for continued prayer and a belief that God truly loves us and cares. Because … God truly does.