If you've been abused you might sometimes wonder, "Well, how is this going to end."
To help answer that question, I'm gonna tell you a story.
It's not about somebody who was abused but it does involve some pretty deep pain.
It's a story of a writer for ESPN. His name is Royce Young.
And a number of years ago, he and his wife Keri found out that they
were expecting a baby which they were very excited about.
But when they went in for the first ultrasound the doctor gave them some very bad news.
He said, "Your child doesn't have a brain."
The child in the womb literally had no brain.
So that child was never going to live.
And as soon as the doctor told them they broke out into the deepest sobbing that you possibly could.
But after a few moments, Keri looked at the doctor and said,
"Doc, if I carry the baby to full-term, can the organs be donated?"
And the doctor put his hand on her shoulder and said,
"Aw, honey that's so sweet of you to say."
As if, you know, as if to say like that's nice but it's absolutely crazy.
There's no way that, there's no way that anybody would ever expect you to do something like that.
And think of the reasons why. It's because, because every day
for the nine months of the pregnancy as this body is growing inside of her, it would be a daily and
moment by moment reminder of all the things that she would never get to enjoy with this child.
But the reason she asked the question was because a couple of days earlier, Royce her husband who
works for ESPN, was working the NBA all-star game. And there were some special guests at the NBA
all-star game and one of the guests was a young child who was waiting for a liver transplant.
And the young child who was waiting for a liver transplant was wearing a t-shirt that said,
"It takes a life to save a life." And that really struck him.
That that's true for most transplants.
That one life needs to end in order for another life to keep going.
And that's why Royce and Keri decided to carry the baby to full-term.
Because they wanted to give at least one more person hope that they could keep going.
Which is exactly what Jesus fully intends to do for you.
He wants to give you hope.
He knows how hard life for the abused so easily is.
He knows about all the stretches of pain and how difficult that can be
when you go through them over and over again and again
where you have a difficult time believing that this is going to end well for anyone.
That's why he left the comfort of heaven.
Because he also believes
that it takes a life to save a life.
He so strongly believes it that he ended up on a cross where his life ended.
Just so you could walk through every day of your life, every moment
knowing that one day your heart and your body
will not be broken.
And while we can wonder why God sometimes seems to be taking so long making that happen,
we know exactly why God allowed Jesus to suffer like he did when he came.
It's because he was thinking of you. It's because he was loving you.
It's because he knew that hope is a very precious gift he wanted to give to somebody just like you.
And it's why he had the prophet Isaiah say this in Isaiah chapter nine.
In your deepest darkness, just know you always have a light
that will never fail to stop shining
for you as often as you need to see it.