Scripture says that God cares for us so deeply that he keeps track of all of our sorrows, to the point that he collects all of our tears and keeps them in a bottle and records each one in His book (Psalm 56:8). Isn’t that amazing?

We live in a society where we are encouraged to hide our sorrows and our tears; to be tough and ‘suck it up’ and truthfully, this does us little good. It has been nearly six years since Mikail passed away and sometimes it feels like I have shed as many tears in 2020 as I did the year he passed away. They have been different types of tears. Tears of gratitude, tears of exhaustion, tears of anxiety, tears of excitement, tears of motherly worry, tears of loneliness, tears of pain, tears of hope, tears of grief, and the list goes on. The thing with tears is that often they come with guilt…that we shouldn’t be crying because somewhere out there someone is going through something even more difficult. Yet, our compassionate Father does not judge our tears or make us feel that our sorrows are not valid. He simply allows them to fall, collects them in His bottle and offers us comfort.

In Psalm 56:8 David is sharing his sorrow and fear with God. He is being hunted by Saul because Saul wants his own son to be king and wants David dead. He is constantly on the run and fears for his life. In this Psalm he is pouring out his heart to God and finds comfort in the fact that no matter what he is going through in life, God is there for him. He doesn’t need to feel guilty about his sorrow or his tears–he simply comes to God and pours out his heart. This holds true for each of us as well.

As 2020 comes to an end and we each reflect on the past year, know that your tears are not cried in vain. They are lovingly collected by our heavenly Father who loves us more than we could ever imagine.