Cindi McMenamin - When God Sees Your Tears: He Knows You, He Hears You, He Sees You

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

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Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photo 2010 Anna Nemoy (Xaomena) / Flickr Open / Getty Images

WHEN GOD SEES YOUR TEARS

Copyright 2014 by Cindi McMenamin

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McMenamin, Cindi, 1965-

When God sees your tears / Cindi McMenamin.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5667-3 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5668-0 (eBook)

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. SufferingReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV4527.M43277 2014

248.8'6dc23

2013045582

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For every dear reader who has written or emailed or pulled me aside to ask, Where is God when it hurts? Your stories, your vulnerability, your tearsand the God who has seen each oneare the inspiration behind this book.

And for Alena, Amanda, and EllenI cant begin to understand the depths to which you have come to know my Lord through your sufferingsbut I am privileged to be able to tell your stories and help each of you leave a legacy of an enduring faith in Christ.

Thank you, Shane White of Harvest House Publishers, for sharing with me your vision for a book called When God Sees Your Tears . Your burden and passion for this book and the women who would be touched by it have moved my heart and through the writing of this book, caused me to experience God in a greater way. My prayer is that When God Sees Your Tears will not only find its way into the hands of the women you had hoped, but that God will do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all you and I could ask or imagine with itfor His glory.

And thank you to my husband, Hugh, for working hard and ministering to your wife, your daughter, and countless others all these years as a pastor, teacher, counselor, listener, and friendso I could have the freedom and flexibility to write from my heart. My ministry is our ministryevery step of the way.

Contents

W here is God when it hurts?

I know youve asked that question. Maybe not consciously. But in your heart of hearts, you wonder, at times, if He really cares and if Hes really listening as youve cried out to Him.

Why hasnt He come through for you? Why hasnt He given you what youve begged Him for? Why do the prayers continue to be prayed and the tears continue to fall?

I too have asked those questionswhen my parents divorced, as I lost the man I thought I was going to marry, as I struggled with trying to have a child, and while I endured seasons of loneliness. I know in my mind and heart that God has never left me. But there wereand aretimes Id like to get to that place where the tears no longer fall.

I have never heard Gods audible voice giving me an answer to my questions through the years. But I have countless times felt His comforting presence during the long days and lonely nights, assuring me that He sees it all, He knows whats coming next, and He really is capable of carrying me through it.

I wont presume to know what has caused your tears or what is on your heart as you hold this book in your hands. But Im guessing at the core of your heartache is a past of unresolved hurts, an unrealized dream, a crushing disappointment, or the loss of something or someone you loved. In some ways you feel its the end of life as you know it. And yet you are not on your own, at the whim of fate or your circumstances.

In Psalm 56:8, David the songwriter, shepherd boy, and king wrote:

You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book? ( NKJV ).

Not only does God know about each tear you shed, but He collects them, meaning not one of them falls without His notice. Scripture also tells us God has recorded all the days of your life in His book and thinks precious thoughts of you that are too numerable to mention (Psalm 139:16-18). Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:30 that even the very hairs on your head are numbered.

God is intimately acquainted with all the details of your life. He knows you. He hears you. He sees you. And in His infinite knowledge of you He evidently considers your tears, at the moment, more valuable to Him and your eternal good than giving to you what it is you are hoping for.

As women, its easy for us to get lost in the drama of us and miss the real, life-changing storythe story God is weaving in our lives about Himself and what He can do when we give our tears to Him. Through the pages of this book I want to encourage you to trust Him with your storya story that is perhaps in the conflict stage or at the crisis point. Yet God is working toward a concluding chapter that I am convinced will astonish you, even though at this point it may seem to you as if its hardly possible. Im convinced that when we give our stories to God from beginning to end, tears and all, He takes our longingsand our lossesand turns them into a legacy.

I want to leave a legacy in my life in spite of the tears that have fallen. And I believe that is ultimately your goal tooto live well, please God in all things, and influence others in a way that changes their world. However, in the day-to-day struggles of life, its natural for all of us, at times, to simply desire happiness and fulfillment.

For the past 30 years, Ive been helping women set meaningful goals for their lives. And frankly, many times our primary goal in life isnt deep enough. To desire marriage or marital fulfillment isnt enough. To want a baby or to raise good and respectful children, or to be remembered as a good mom or a generous woman is shallow, at best. Our goal cannot simply be to achieve a dream or reputation or what weor the world around usmeasure as success. God wants something more of your life and mine. He wants our lives to be stories that give glory and praise to Himself. As our Creator, that is His prerogative. But heres the secretbringing glory to God with our lives brings immeasurable joy to us as well!