Clutching two framed photographs, the proud grandmother showed them to friends in the church foyer. The first picture was of her daughter back in her homeland of Burundi. The second was of her grandson, born recently to that daughter. But the daughter wasn’t holding her newborn. She had died giving birth to him.

在教堂走廊，一位刚升格的祖母正向朋友展示两张裱框照片。第一张是她女儿在非洲蒲隆地家乡时的照片，第二张则是女儿刚生下的男婴，但她的女儿并未和新生儿合照，因为她在生产过程中不幸过世了。

A friend approached and looked at the pictures. Reflexively, she reached up and held that dear grandmother’s face in her hands. All she could say through her own tears was, “I know. I know.”

一位朋友看了照片，不禁泪水盈眶，对她说：“我了解，我了解。”

And she did know. Two months earlier she had buried a son.

这位朋友确实能够明白，因为她的儿子刚在两个月前离开人世。

There’s something special about the comfort of others who have experienced our pain. They know. Just before Jesus’s arrest, He warned His disciples, “You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” But in the next breath He comforted them: “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy” (John 16:20). In mere hours, the disciples would be devastated by Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion. But their crushing grief soon turned to a joy they could not have imagined when they saw Him alive again.

那些曾经历同样伤痛的人所给的安慰特别不同，因为他们了解！在耶稣被捕之前，祂警告门徒：“你们将要痛哭、哀号，世人倒要喜乐。”但接下来耶稣却安慰他们说：“你们将要忧愁，然而你们的忧愁要变为喜乐”（约翰福音16章20节）。几个小时后，门徒因着耶稣被捕和被钉十架而大受打击。但他们撕心裂肺的哀恸，在他们见到耶稣复活时，即刻转变为超乎想像的喜乐。

Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering” (Isa. 53:4). We have a Savior who doesn’t merely know about our pain; He lived it. He knows. He cares. One day our grief will be turned into joy.

先知以赛亚曾如此预言弥赛亚：“祂诚然担当我们的忧患，背负我们的痛苦”（以赛亚书53章4节） 。我们的救主不只知道我们的痛苦，祂亲身经历，祂清楚了解，祂在乎。有一天，我们的哀哭将会化为喜乐。

Lord, thank You for going to the cross for us. We certainly know trouble in this world, but You overcame the world and took our sin and pain for us. We look forward to the day when our sorrows will be turned into joy and we see You face to face.

主，谢谢祢为我们钉在十架上。我们知道这世上有苦难，
但祢已胜过世界，承担了我们的罪孽和痛苦。
我们期盼与祢面对面的那一天，忧愁要变为喜乐。

John 16:19-24New International Version (NIV)

19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief,but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

整理：于姊妹