Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

“You’re doing a great job, and you will know what to do.”

Our family doctor said those words to me as we wrapped up a routine visit. Tears pricked my eyes because she had no idea I’d spent the last few days questioning if I was cut out for mothering a child with significant medical needs. She didn’t know I’d only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before last and spent hours before sunrise praying for wisdom on how to best care for my daughter. She didn’t know how I’ve mourned our circumstances and the accompanying uncertainty. So when she offered such reassurance, it felt like a welcome balm to my weary mama’s heart.

I consider Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:4 when he says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NIV).

I’m certain when I’ve read this passage of scripture, the Beatitudes, my mind zeroes in on the blessing parts— the inheriting the earth, being God’s child, and the like. It’s as though my comfortable life creates this lens through which I’ve read these words and focused on the “good” parts. I’m also 100% a glass-half-filled kind of girl, so that might be a part of it too. However, when the sorrows of life come, I realize it is the mourner who needs comforting, the hungry who needs filling, or any other type of humble state where we recognize our deep need for Him and those needs are met.

I’m not promised a life where I won’t experience sorrow. And thank God He doesn’t ask me to suppress those feelings either! In fact, I am reassured by the words of our Savior that when I mourn, I will be comforted. Sometimes that comfort comes in the presence of a friend, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, a hug from my kids, or an encouraging word from another.

Lord, give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear the ways you comfort us when we mourn. Help us to not despise mourning, but to allow it a place in our hearts that we might receive your blessing of comfort. May we turn to you in our need, receive, and be whole.

Meet the Author
Mary Kate Brown

Mary Kate and her husband Brian are high-school sweethearts who left their lifelong home in the Chicago suburbs to build their homestead in rural Western Michigan. She's a homeschooling mama of four daughters and a homebody who enjoys making hot breakfasts, working in her garden, and frequenting the local farmers market. After overcoming health challenges due to autoimmunity, her passion is pursuing wholeness beyond her diagnosis. She encourages other mamas to do the same to shape the wellness of their families.