A Difficult Year

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” Isaiah 43:2

On January 14, 2025, I wrote this for an online devotional,” My brother has cancer. This verse is helping me face a new year that looks difficult…whatever you are facing in the new year, God promises to walk alongside you.”

Little did I know that on April 9, 2025, my brother Kurt would die. My brother was my baby brother, eleven years younger than I. I felt such shock, grief, anger at God, denial, and sadness. Why didn’t God save him? We needed him. He was only 55 years old. He left three children, a wife, and two sisters bereft.

I take comfort in King David’s honesty in talking to God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? … I cry by day but you do not answer.” Psalm 22.

I don’t think I will ever understand why my brother died. I think God understands my anger and He is still there in spite of it. Sometimes I can’t sense God’s presence, but I believe He is still there. And there are times when I do sense His presence. Through it all, I remember, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”

Prayer: Dear God, life hurts. We are grateful you promise to be there in the dark times and the good times too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Nancy Brumbaugh