One of my favorite artists is Marc Chagall. This past summer I had the opportunity to view an exhibit of some of his most famous paintings. I was so moved when the guide pointed out the floating hand, a reoccurring symbol in many of Chagall’s works of art. The hand represented God, always present, always reaching for us. Have you ever felt the mysterious Spirit’s hand reaching in from the left, the right, the top or bottom of the canvas that is your own unique life?

In my own experience, when I can get still enough, practice trust, and lean in, the Holy Spirit makes the impossible possible, and allows unfailing hope in a world where evil has such a mighty stronghold.

God has chosen to reside within us, to accompany us on this adventure of life. In Romans 5:5, Paul makes this great proclamation: “Hope will not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

This one sentence will completely change how you view the world and your own unique participation in it. Where the Holy Spirit is present, there is always hope and divine possibility.

What a beautiful promise. But it doesn’t answer a certain pressing question of our souls. Why does the “Floating Hand” not reach into the “painting” of our lives to prevent the tragedies that nearly break us? Why must we hurt so in mind, body and spirit? The hard reality is there is no getting around pain on earth, for Jesus, for his disciples, for us.

How God must hurt to watch us hurt. But faithfully, patiently, in profound and delicate ways, God comes to our rescue. We cannot explain suffering. All we have is God’s promise and a holy anthology of lived experiences where God gifted a resurrection; gave us what we needed to rise for another day.

There is so much that we have absolutely no control over. These are dangerous and soul-flattening times. This break-your-heart, and unmerciful world can make us forget or dismiss the reality of the Holy Spirit, even turn our backs on God. But we must choose to believe in and be led by the Divine Spirit within us. No matter how dark, lost, evil, and out of control our present reality, we can affirm a Spirit of goodness, love, and hope working to save our tender and fragile hearts and this holy creation.

Trust that you will be carried through a break-your-heart time.

Know God is working right now, right here to heal and resurrect us in unbearable life situations.

Pray: “Come, Holy Spirit Come.”