For crying out loud

I am a cryer. Always have been and always will be - but I must say, I cry for so many different reasons now than I did say 20 years ago. I can remember when I was a newlywed, the first real argument I had with my husband. I don't remember what it was about, but I do remember how hard I cried afterwards. And if he ever hurt my feelings, well, the make up was ruined for the day. Fast forward 20 years, and I would not even get misty eyed over Rex hurting my feelings. Mad maybe, but no tears. While I don't have full fledge crying spells very often now, I am more prone to get misty eyed. It doesn't take much - I can read a feel good story, hear a sad story, reminisce over things, listen to a song, or just be watching TV. It doesn't take very much to stir my tear glands into production. Even my kids will be like, "mom, are you crying?" For some reason, crying makes a lot of people uncomfortable. I have a friend tell me not too long ago that she had not cried in over five years and she worried about what that said about her. I did the research and it says that women cry an average of 47 times per year. I don't know if that was a full fledge crying spell or just getting teary eyed. I do know that after I have a good ole crying spell, I always feel 100% better. It helps you release some of whatever is bothering you. Sometimes when things get to be too much, I just can't help it. The emotions I feel turn my tear glands into a water faucet. Not too long ago, as I was having one of these episodes, I was talking to my besty about it. She told me something that I don't think I will ever forget. She reminded me that tears are prayers too.

God sees every tear that we shed. He knows the reason behind those tears. Just as a parent is moved to comfort a crying child, our Father wants to comfort us in our tears. The bible says He bottles some of our tears and records them. I have no idea why He records them, but it is comforting to know that He notices and takes the time to record the tears. See, most of the time when I have my good cry, I do it in private. Just another reminder that no matter who we think we are hiding stuff from, we can never hide anything from Him.

Put thou my tears into a bottle: are they not in thy book?

Psalms 56:8b