Dawn of a New Day

"Perhaps we are brokenhearted because of bitter suffering in our family.  Maybe our once-good reputation has been ruined and now we are ashamed.  Or life has been taken captive and destroyed before the watchful eyes of friends and foes alike.  Jeremiah watched this happen to his beloved nation, Israel.  It's no wonder he is known as the weeping prophet.  The people of God refused to listen to Jeremiah's warnings, and they were taken captive by a heathen nation as a result.  Lamentations is a record of Jeremiah's lament over the shameful fate of God's people.  From Jeremiah's heart:

"I remember how I suffered and wandered.  I remember how bitter my life was. I remember it very well. My spirit is very sad deep down inside me.  But here is something else I remember.  And it gives me hope.  The Lord loves us very much.  So we haven't been completely destroyed.  His loving concern never fails.  His great love is new every morning.  Lord, how faithful you are!  I say to myself, "The Lord is everything I will ever need.  So I will put my hope in him."  

 (Lamentations 3: 19-24, NIRV) 

Turning our life over to God includes giving him our pain and suffering.  In our times of grief and shame, we can hope, knowing that God will help us overcome the problems we face.  God is strong enough to lift our burdens and loving enough to mend our broken hearts."     (a devotion of  "Hope" from the Life Recovery Bible)