I once had a hug I’ll never forget. It was three years ago today and I was walking down the hall of the NICU still trying to wrap my head around the situation. My cousin arrived at the hospital and walked straight up to me, wrapping me in the most meaningful embrace. She held on and didn’t let go and a million words were spoken in silence. It was a hug I’ll never forget because in that moment, I felt God use her arms to hold me together.
Have you ever had a hug that unwrapped your heart so completely you melted in its warmth? Have you collapsed against the feelings of support, comfort, and companionship? Without words a hug can tell you you’re not alone and you are safe.
Have you ever felt a hug from God?
I have.
The thing is, God isn’t physically here to lean over and squeeze me tight. He doesn’t just pat me on the back and send me on my way. And yet, I feel him do those things.
He hugs me daily and holds me together when I’m falling apart. Sometimes it’s in our quiet moments when he whispers answers to my anxious questions. Sometimes in the moments of tenderness with my kids that I know this love is a hug from him. Other times though, it’s through unexpected support and love from those he’s placed in my path.
That’s what happened this past week.
The days leading up to August 24th are hard. His birthday the hardest. It’s not fun to anticipate the kind of pain that comes from celebrating your dead child. I dreaded it.
This past week I found myself hiding out with God in efforts to console my aching heart. I prayed for God to remind me who I was to him. Who my Josiah was to him. To remind me I was loved so dearly he bought me with the blood of his own precious son. To remind me that my heart is held in his hands, that I matter, and I am known.
I prayed this every day and yet it caught me by complete surprise on Monday when I went to the mailbox and found a gift from an unexpected person. How nice of them I thought. Then Tuesday came and I went to the mailbox and inside were two more gifts from unexpected supporters. And Wednesday came and many more gifts and cards were arriving and finally it occurred me to me that God was very much in these details. The words written in cards and the specific people he used to comfort me were by no coincidence. They were hand picked by God for me. They were his embrace over my heart this week. By the time Josiah’s birthday came to a close on Thursday I was humbled to the core that God still cared so passionately about me.
This week when my chest felt so heavy it was physically hard to breathe, I couldn’t help but fall more in love with a God who loves me so generously and intimately. Who embraces me in a hug when I need it the most.
You see friends, God hugs us. He pulls us close in ways uniquely meaningful to us. He calls his Church, the body of Christ on earth, to offer comfort in tangible ways. Sometimes all it takes to shower someone in Gods love is to offer your presence or a quick note. Such simple gestures might just be the embrace a hurting heart needs.
And so I want to extend my most heartfelt thanks to the friends and family who reached out and embraced us for Jesus this week. It felt so good.
Perhaps you are in need of a God hug today too. Have you paused to ask him for one? I whole-heartedly believe if you seek him, he will wrap you in an embrace so secure you’ll stop looking for love anywhere else.
Perhaps God is asking you to be his earthly arms of comfort. Have you felt his nudge? It doesn’t take much to extend his love and grace on those around you.
But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 1 Corinthians 12:24-26