Known

I was a seminary student at University Hospital in London, Ontario, engaged in a summer chaplaincy unit. I wanted so much to be “professional,” “pastoral.” However, inside I was afraid. What if a patient asked me something about God that I didn’t know how to answer? What if their illnesses brought my own questions, my struggles with faith, to the surface?

Of course that happened. One patient I remember in particular kept asking, “Why?” I had no answer. I felt weak as a Christian, a failure as one offering care.

However, in that moment, thanks be to God, these words of Paul came to me. I shared them, revealing my own confusion, but offering hope that God was there. In the midst of everything we couldn’t understand, that person and I could cling to the One who knows us fully, and who promises not to let go.

Thirty years later, this verse remains a source of strength and of peace to hold and to offer.

In the midst of the confusion of life and faith, O God, help us to trust that you know us fully and abide with us always. Amen. — MHD