Heavenly Tears

“I’m sorry that I’m crying.”

As a prayer coach, that phrase makes my hackles go up. After years of working with people and helping them embrace their communication with God, I know that tears are a vital method of expression. I’ve seen tears be the key that unlocks forgiveness, releasing a person into a new level of freedom. They’ve been an indicator that we’ve walked into a sacred space, where God is so present that nothing but tears expresses the fullness of the experience. Tears have been a warning that we’ve stepped into something that needs a deeper inspection before the Lord. When I’ve prayed with someone, and a new future opens for them, tears of joy often flow. I love it when someone gets a download from God that’s punctuated with tears, because that’s when they’ve entered a oneness with God that’s indescribable. I love people who can and do cry, because I know God is with them.

When I see tears flowing, I think of Psalm 56:8 in The Passion Translation:

You’ve kept track of all my wandering and my weeping.
You’ve stored my many tears in your bottle—not one will be lost.
For they are all recorded in your book of remembrance.

God loves our tears so much that He stores them, so they aren’t lost. Or how about the woman, a sinner, in Luke 7:38 who comes to Jesus:

Broken and weeping, she covered his feet with the tears that fell from her face. She kept crying and drying his feet with her long hair. Over and over, she kissed Jesus’ feet. Then, as an act of worship, she opened her flask and anointed his feet with her costly perfume.

Even though the people in the room tried to stop her, Jesus made sure that her tears are remembered.

Even the other day, as I was crying out of frustration and anger, God was there. How do I know? Later, as my husband read our nightly devotion, God addressed those tears directly through the lesson. He knew about them long before they even happened.

So, please, don’t tell anyone that they shouldn’t cry, or make them feel embarrassed. Instead, embrace the moment as if you can see God’s tear collection bottle. Also, don’t hand someone a tissue before they ask. A tissue offered prematurely is a non-verbal signal that you are uncomfortable with the messiness and want them to stop. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the movement of God dry up because of the dreaded tissue. It often started a litany of apologies that made me want to cry for them.

 So, cry, baby cry, let waterworks flow. Think of tears as a fuel that moves heaven. Either get on board with what God is doing or get out of the way while He works. I’m praying that each of us stands firm in our God-given gift of crying, guarding that treasure as if it’s the rarest of gems.

Andrea Sanger
Creative Prayer Coach