My Bottle of Tears
Did you add to your bottle of tears today? We would love to pray for you.
“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)
I confess I’m a crier. I cry at movies, at baseball games when the national anthem is played, at graduations, weddings, and funerals. I cry when I hear a sad story, when someone else cries, when I share what God has done in my life, when I’m angry, and even when I laugh hard enough.
I hate the fact that I cry so easily. It can be incredibly embarrassing for one thing. And for another, it puts people in an awkward position. But crying can be a good thing! God created tears – it is in His design that we cry.
I love the Psalms because they give us beautiful pictures of what our intimate relationship with God is like. And Psalm 56:8 (NLT) gives us one of those snapshots of God’s tenderness with us when we are experiencing incredible sorrow in our life.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (I’m sure I have a very BIG bottle!)
God not only keeps track of all our sorrows, hurts and heartaches, He has recorded them in His book. Every tear we’ve cried He has stored in our bottle, the one He keeps just for us.
I wonder, does my bottle have my name on it? Is it a special color? I wonder if God, my Father looks at my bottle full of tears and says, “Ah, that one is my daughter, Kristi’s! Her bottle of tears is so precious to me and I treasure each one. I am intimately acquainted with all her ways and I love her. When she has cried tears that no one sees, I have seen, I know and cherish each one because I cherish her.”
What a beautiful gentle picture this is of our God – a Father who tenderly collects our tears and holds them close to His heart.
Have you ever stopped to consider that God is keeping track of all your sorrows? He knows each one of them. He has seen you cry until you can’t cry any more. He has witnessed your heartache over a difficult child, a wayward spouse, a broken friendship, or the death of a loved one. He has seen your tears when you have cried all alone in the dark, not sure of where to turn or where to go. He has recorded each one in His book and collected your tears in the bottle He has just for you. How precious you are to Him!
Let the tears flow and know that your God cares for you intimately and with great passion!
Father, Thank you for seeing my tears and for the promise that I am never alone in my sorrow. Amen.
Question: We all experience tears and heartache in life. How do you reach out to your Savior in times of distress?
Tags: cry, Devotional, God, Kristi Huseby, Psalm 56:8, sorrows, tears, Women
18 Responses to “My Bottle of Tears”
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Sisters, and dear Jamie, thank you so much for taking the time to share all this. What a blessing. This brought tears to my heart and eyes… I have cried much in the past, and it’s funny you mentioned Job/ Jeremiah as they have been brought up in the past. I am humbled, as I remember that there were great men and women of God in the Bible, who were imperfect, people, who made mistakes and yet God for some reason chose to use them in great ways! Praise the Lord! I pray that He places His mighty, wonderful hands upon us… everyone reading this, and strengthens, encourages us, fills us with His Spirit, uses us, blesses us with His beautiful peace & wonderful kindness. May God find us where we are today, wherever we are, whether ‘pretty’ or not. God bless you, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Joan, the Lord knows your situation and He has heard your cry for help. Listen to His promise to you, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) You are not alone because you are never out of God’s sight. He is an infinite God and so that means He has an infinite amount of time and energy and love to focus completely on you. I don’t know what your situation is but I know that God does. Continue to look to Him for your answer. Often He accomplishes giving comfort through other people. Let me invite you to talk with one of our online mentors. You will find in them a place to safely share the burden of your heart, a reminder of the faithfulness of God and a friend who will help you work through ways that God may be leading you to relief. You will find a Mentor Request Form at http://powertochange.com/experience/talk-to-a-mentor.
Shavon, You are not alone in your tears. There have been many godly people who have also come to that place of feeling overwhelmed by sorrow and pain in life that is not of their own choosing. Certainly Job is a prime example; there was one point when he said, “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’ That day– may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it. May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light. That night– may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months. May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it. May those who curse days curse that day.” (Job 3:3-8) Jeremiah was another man of God who felt deep sorrow and cursed the day he was born, “Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you– a son!” May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?” (Jeremiah 20:14-18) Hannah, the mother of Samuel, also had her time of great saddness because she was unable to have children. She was so broken that when she went to the Tabernacle to pray the priest Eli thought she was drunk. “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” (1Samuel 1:15-16) So don’t feel alone and don’t feel that God is offended by your grief.
But the more that you read about men and women like Job and Jeremiah and Hannah the more you will see how God has used that grief and pain in their lives to produce something amazing. I know that doesn’t make the sorrow that you feel right now any less but my prayer is that it encourages you to follow the example of these great men and women to focus your attention on God. These people were not afraid to pourt out their hearts to God. Sometimes it was in frustration and anger, but they never took their eyes off God to find thier own solution. They continued through their pain to push in to God and look to Him for thier relief.
And God did answer. When God finally answered Job in the middle of his pain Job was blown away by the intimacy of relationship with God. His response was, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5) And out of Jeremiah’s lament we have this great hymn that has become such a favorite “Great is Thy Faithfulness”; “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:22-26) And when Hannah brings her answer to prayer, Samuel, to present him to the Lord for life-long service she proclaimed, “My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” (1Samuel 2:1-2)
I encourage you to follow the examples of these great men and women, pour out your heart to God, trust that He alone will bring you hope, and wait for Him to answer your cry. He always does and when He does you will never be the same.
Let me invite you to share your pain with one of our prayer mentors and have them join you in prayer seeking God’s help for your sorrow. Go to http://powertochange.com/experience/need-prayer and share your prayer request.
Lord God I pray for Shavon and the great sorrow that she carries. I pray that she would find in You, great comfort and strength. I pray that she would have freedom to pour out her heart before you in honesty and in faith that You hear and that You will act in Your perfect time. I pray that You would send Your people to her to bring comfort and encouragement in this dark valley that she is in. Grant her request O Lord according to Your will and in Your perfect plan for her life. Amen.
I haven’t cried lately. Although, I wish I could…anger has gotten in the way. I say to the Lord, “Help me,…I feel so alone”.
thanks for reminding us, that God makes us ‘stronger’ when we give our ‘broken pieces’ to Him… how humbling.
i cry and i pray
It always bothers me that God is watching me suffer and cry over things i can’t do anything about. After i’ve exhausted myself with tears, i tell the LORD, “Here, take these tears and turn them into liquid prayers because i can’t do this thing anymore.” For me,i have to keep my ‘still and quiet spirit’ or just commit suicide.
I grew up being ridiculed for crying easily…the mole below my right eye was a constant reminder to me what a ‘wreck’ I was for crying so often. When I became a Christian, I found comfort crying in hiding, pouring my deepest sorrow to Jesus, the one person I know will never ridicule me for being that way. I learned since then to ask God to keep my heart safe in His hand everytime it felt like it was about to shatter into million pieces. Instead, He made it stronger each time – thank you, Lord :) I know my tears are precious to Him coz I read that verse before and ever since then have not been afraid to cry when I need to. Your article has affirmed such a wonderful assurance I cannot thank you more… God bless u.
I cried when I read this! Very touching and hopeful!!
This is one of my favorite verses and I always say that my ‘bottle’ is probably a ten gallon drum because I too am a crier! But I love that God sees each one as precious!
Thank you so much, for all your prayers, encouragements, thoughts. Even though I’ve never ‘met’ you I am blessed to know you are all blessed sisters in Christ. I was blessed by this, I was just thinking about this verse/ thought the other day, as I was crying out to God about what I’ve been going through recently. I am actually not a crier, but I have cried a lot to God in the past! I was encouraged/ reminded/ humbled to remember that He says He keeps our tears… I pray God’s Presence is with us as we remember this. God bless you.
Even when others don’t understand your tears, our heavenly Father does. God’s love surrounded me as I read this devotional. Thank you!
Kristi, I can not even begin to imagine the size of the bottle our Savior is holding with all my tears. Tears of sorrow and tears of joy! But as we know when all is said and done…there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more tears. Till then I sure do hope I shed less and less tears as I jounery on through this life down here and sing more and more unto Him who is with us all.
I am also a crier. I have a very sensitive heart that I always falls to crying at the very least of reason I could ever have. This devotional has been an encouragement and reminder that even though people I know might not be able to understand the reasons for my tears, God, our Heavenly Father will always be there to comfort and to embrace us with his loving arms whenever we are in pain. What a great assurance we can only have through Him! Amen….
Thank you so much for this, Kristi! I can totally relate to you and to Chrissy, Holly, and Sherry. I needed to hear these words today. You reminded me to turn to my Saviour, the Comforter of my soul, the One who understands and is always here for me when I am feeling overwhelmed.
God bless you, Kristi. I appreciate you and I love the way you express your heart so honestly!
Kristi, I like you am a crier. I truly enjoyed and was tremendously blessed by this devotional. Thank You for sharing your heart.
Today I needed this exact blog!! Thank you.
Thank you so much for your “confession”. I, too, am a crier and feel the very same way about it. This is a beautiful devotional and gave me great comfort as soon as I read it. Thank you, Kristi.