Article April 13, 1992 Issue

What can heal despair?

The more of God we discover, the more we can feel His love—especially when we need it most.

Carol Winograd

What can we do when we face overwhelming sadness? We may get angry. We may pity ourselves and try to shut out everything else. We may try to move past it and "get on with our lives."

Maybe attempting to fill the void with nothing will make it seem that if we can add to the sadness an emptiness, it all will hurt less. We may decide to expect no good anymore, so that if the bad continues, we won't really care. And yet, to be honest, even if we try all these things, there remains a deep need to be truly comforted, a need to be healed.

At such times, and indeed at all times, we can lean on God. Turning to Him is certainly not abandoning ourselves to fate. It is finding tangible help. Turning to God allows us to begin feeling the divine presence, which is assuring and reassuring. But we can feel this closeness only by understanding our relationship to God. This is what will heal those deep wounds and fill our hearts with peace and trust. In God we do have an ever-ready friend. But if we don't know God, how can we rely on Him? And if we don't turn to Him, how can we feel His love?

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