It was a beautiful summer’s evening at the Danversport Yacht Club accented with a magnificently painted sunset brushed by God Himself. The sounds of merriment from the family wedding faded into the background as I walked out into the parking lot with my cousin.

As we meandered through the maze of cars in the parking lot, our “shallow man” talk began to make an abrupt course correction. Like a mysterious wind coming out of nowhere, my cousin began to open up, sharing the dark road he was traveling and the impact it was having on his family. The wound was deep, but the shame kept him silent for years. He was an absolute mess and wow…I had no idea.

Here was the rub…

I too was walking a dark road and never thought I would meet up with another family member on that very same road. I so wanted to refocus the attention on me, but something inside me knew that this meet up was not about me.

As my cousin began to unpack the baggage he was carrying, my struggles began to fade into the backdrop. I listened to his narrative, I shared from my heart and gave him a great big bear hug. That day, I began to walk it out with him despite dragging my own baggage along.

My eyes began to mist up (I mean sweating from my eyes) with sadness, hope and joy. It was a whirlpool of emotions which allowed me to experience the depth of this road we were both walking. It was for different reasons, but nonetheless a dark road.

My cousin paused and ask if I was ok. I replied that I was ok and then spoke the word “Longsuffering”. My cousin replied, “Longsuffering? What? What do you mean?”

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Remember that verse? Longsuffering means patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties. This is so woven into our narratives right now.

Life is full of those, isn’t it?

It is. God never promised us that life would be easy, but He did promise to walk it out with us. Is walking through divorce fun? Not at all, it actually sucks! Nonetheless, I’m thankful that God cares enough to walk it out with me. About the bad times…it’s not about blaming someone, or something, for them. It’s about leaning into God with a heart of gratitude that He will be there to help you through the darkness.

I shared with my cousin that all you have to do is ask Him, and He will walk it out with you. Like a parent hearing a child call out in pain, God comes running!

When we finally come to grips that life will give us more than we can handle, we can find a promise that God is faithful to meet up with us on our dark road of pain. Yeah, I faced many days walking down the road of life that seemed to consist fighting through tumultuous storms rather than gentle strolls in a summer’s breeze.

When life punches you in the face and become unbearable, we need to be willing to walk alongside one another. When we do this, we can be with one another in the midst of suffering, helping each other carry the weight of it all.

When we are willing to camp out in the pain, to walk it out with one another when life’s path is difficult and to shoulder one another’s burdens when they are too heavy; we become living proof that while life can sometimes be too much, through the goodness of our loving of God displayed within us, we can move forward together.