Last weekend my Mom and I visited one of my favorite uncles in the hospital. Tito Joeweng is now 87 years old and has the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Mom and I want to be able to spend a bit of time with him whenever we can. We want to visit him while he still is lucid and still remembers.

It was a good day to visit. He mentioned different family members and relatives, recalling their value to him. He even recited his favorite poem from childhood. Tito Joeweng is already beginning to forget things, but would still remember key highlights that brought good memories. Toward the end of our visit I had the opportunity to pray for him. Amazingly, he was the one who ended our prayer time by actually praying for me and Mama, asking God to bless us in every way. Needless to say, we left his hospital room feeling more blessed than when we came.

That visit reminded me of the verse in the Bible that talks about God turning our mourning into dancing, and lifting our sorrows.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭30:11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We regularly face battles and sorrows in this life. We can always try to fight these battles ourselves. Ultimately though, we need to remember that it is God who can turn our sorrows around, who can turn our mourning to dancing. Whatever it is we are facing today, we can trust the promise that after the darkness, dawn will come.

When we understand and have this revelation, in the midst of our pain, we can still be thankful and with gladness in our hearts look to heaven and be a source of blessing to others. Just like my uncle.