Chats With God
By Pastor Harold

"America's # 1 Failure Expert"

"In this world it is not what we take up, but what WE GIVE UP, that makes us rich."
Henry Ward Beecher

GOD KEEPS A RECORD OF YOUR TEARS!

Did you know God suffers with you? Did you know God keeps a record of your tears?

This is what the Bible says in Psalm 56:8, "You keep track of all my sorrows. YOU HAVE COLLECTED ALL MY TEARS IN YOUR BOTTLE. YOU HAVE RECORDED EACH ONE IN YOUR BOOK." Did you know that about God?

It is not wrong to cry. It is human. I feel sorry for people who can not cry. God keeps a record of our tears, because tears represent pain, suffering, losses, rejection, disappointments, betrayal, anger and longings.

When I was in Israel a few years back I got directions to go visit a Jewish antiquities store I had heard about. When I walked in I felt like I was walking through a tunnel of history. In this store there were pieces dating back 3,000 years. It was like a museum, except you were allowed to hold things. (If you dropped them, of course, it would cost a fortune.) As I was looking around, I saw a lot of fragments of pottery, and a lot of very weathered things. Suddenly, standing out in the midst of all those antiquities was a beautiful, translucent blue bottle. So I asked the man who owned the store, "Sir, what is this blue bottle?"

"Oh, that is a Roman tear bottle," he told me.

"Really?" I said. "I have never heard of a Roman tear bottle. What is that?"

He said, "The Romans believed that when they lost a loved one, if they put their tears in a bottle, they would be recorded in heaven."

It was years later, exactly 10 years later, when I was reading my Bible and I came across the verse I am using today. "You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." I can not describe with words what that verse did for me. I was walking through a dark valley of emotional pain. It felt like pictures, poems, thoughts, songs, everything brought tears to my eyes. This passage created bonding with my God. I suddenly said, "Wow... God cares about my tears... God is keeping record of this time of suffering in my life.These tears matter to God."

You see, God has a bottle with my name in heaven, where He has been storing my tears. He has also been recording every tear I have shed in my life time. Does that mean anything to you?
Why id God keeping our tears in a bottle? Why is He recording every time I cry. So that someday, He can wipe them away for ever.

Here is the promise. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."—Revelation 21:4

Are you hurting today?
Have you been crying?
Well, God is watching.
He is with you!

I happen to believe that the more we suffer in this life, the more of a chance we have to get to know God. Matthew 5: 1-12. I don't like suffering and pain. But I have learn to accept it as a reality in my life. The beatitudes are blessings pronounced on people who suffer, cry and hurt. If learn to lean on God during difficult times, you will be rewarded.
The tears we shed in this life are not in vain. Why would God keep a record if they are meaningless to Him?

God bless you, today!
Let God love you!
Love others extravagantly! (1 Corinthians 13: 13-TM)
Love your self with the love of God!"
Be merciful!

Pastor Harold