Tears

I will never forget traveling to Minsk, Belarus—one of the oldest cities in Europe—with its charming cobblestone streets and the beautiful Svislach River in the background. My connection with Minsk happened when I visited the Island of Tears, an amazing memorial set up in 1988 to commemorate the Belarusian soldiers who died in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ nine-year war in Afghanistan (1979–1988).

The heart of the memorial is the chapel, with its haunting figures of grieving mothers, sisters, and widows shedding tears together as they remember their loved ones lost in the war. I stayed there for a while, thinking about those mothers and their pain.

I reflected on the tears I have shared with women who experienced similar trauma. When words fail, tears flow. Tears have a language all their own—a tongue that needs no interpreter. Most often, they appear when our souls are overwhelmed with feelings that words cannot describe. Maybe this is how you feel today, and this is OK.

But here is good news. Our God takes notice of every tear. David wrote, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8, NLT). He also wrote, “The LORD has heard the voice of my weeping” (Psalm 6:8, NKJV). A teardrop on Earth summons the King of heaven, who takes note when hard times cause us to become full of tears. The times when you feel embarrassed or disappointed are turned into moments of tenderness with Him. He never forgets the crises in our lives where tears are shed. He understands, He feels, and He cries with us.

What a comforting reality that is! Jeremiah was so grieved that his people persisted in rebelling against God that “the weeping prophet” became his nickname. Even so, God selected Jeremiah to be His voice at the most critical time in Israel’s history.

And God also can use you and your tears as His voice. If you have tears today, remember two things: God keeps track of all your sorrows, and “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5, NLT).

Raquel Queiroz da Costa Arrais