No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
A dear friend is experiencing what we have described as his time as Job (painting of Satan Inflicting Boils on Job, by William Blake, 1757-1827). Psychologists periodically remind us, via talk shows and internet news, that stress is caused by our perception of loss. Among the top five causes of severe stress are 1) deaths of loved ones, 2) divorce, 3) illness or injury, 4) financial pressures, and 5) job loss. My friend is currently experiencing two of the top five and is on the edge of a third. He wonders if God will truly provide a way out.
This third Sunday of Lent is an opportunity for us to ask ourselves if we believe the words of the apostle Paul in Corinthians. In our darkest hours, can we still hold hope that we will be able to endure life’s hardest blows?…
In the midst of trying to be a support to my friend, a second friend shares that her mother is close to death and she has personally been advised that her job is being outsourced to Mexico. The second friend, knowing nothing of the troubles of the first friend I described, believes that she, too, is experiencing the worst life can deliver. Job, she believes, has been reincarnated as a woman – her!
Both of these friends are people of faith. But faith can often be a fair-weather experience. Countless people turn their backs on God in the midst of loss. For those who imagine God as a kind pal who will always protect them from harm, their losses feel like betrayals. They may also imagine that God is punishing for some wrong they have done.
I don’t think of God in either of these ways. But I may well be in the minority. If God is Love, than this Love is available to us even more in times of trouble than it may seem to be in times of joy. It is up to us to open to love when we are feeling closed to life. 
Yet these feel like empty words to someone in tears. I certainly wouldn’t want someone preaching to me in the middle of my Job-like sorrows.
Lent is a time of self-imposed sacrifice. In this time, we have the chance to feel the discomfort of unsatisfied appetites, to avoid filling that need so we may listen, prayerfully, to the voice of self-denial. And so we may, in our own discomfort, share solidarity with those who are in deeper pain.
It’s easy for all who feel their lives are in balance to counsel those who may feel discouraged and depressed. What’s harder is to offer compassionate, non-pitying, presence.
When we offer loving presence, we become lanterns lighting the pathway to God’s Love. And a way out for those who are suffering.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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