Woman of Sorrow

Beloved Woman, my heart is heavy because you are grieving; the weight of centuries of oppression still lingers in your heart.

I can feel intensely the loneliness of your being abandoned, left all alone; the pain of your loved one suddenly snatched away from you; the agony of living day by day with someone you should no longer be with; the emptiness of simply being an object of desire; the weariness of toiling night and day yet not meeting what you need for your self and your little ones; the appalling experience of being disenfranchised, set aside, passed upon or simply ignored just because you are a woman.

Beloved woman, weep, shed your tears, let out the sorrow from your veins. Even just in your mind lean on my shoulders, strong with borrowed strength from him who is all power.

Then be defiant, but not desperate; seek your liberation. There is someone, more than powerful; he loves, he truly loves, he loves you, he loves the woman of sorrow. I know him for "He Touched Me. He will touch you like no other . . . and lead you to a newness beyond your wildest expectation. Seek him with all your heart and mind; and let him touch you.

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart,I will be found by you . . . I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you . . . I will turn their mourning into joy,I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow (Jeremiah 29:11-14; 31:3,13 - RSV)