How could Mary do it? How could she stand at the foot of cross and watch her Son suffer immense pain? Did her mind go back to the day the angel brought her good news that she would carry the Savior of the world (Luke 1)? This seemed all wrong. It wasn't supposed to be this way at all.

Like Mary, I often feel the ugliness of the world turned upside down and grieve for ourselves and for our children. School shootings, natural disasters, bullying, disappointment, health problems. It wasn't supposed to be this way. And it really wasn't, but it is.

Mary watched and wept as saw Him take that last breath and cry out, "It is finished." She was a parent, after all. It must have ripped her heart just as the curtain in the temple was torn in two.

Then, nothing, but the beating of her own heart. Did she hold hope that God would make a way? Did she give up? Did she feel more alone than ever in her life? How did Mary endure this day?

Do we cry out, "Where are you, Jesus?", when it's not going as expected. We say, "You have done great things before, why not now?" With heartbreak, we wonder why our children suffer. With fear, we ask, are we forsaken?

On Good Friday, we wait, we wonder, we suffer. We are out of answers, lost, afraid. Mary felt it. We feel it.

But blessed are those who mourn, for Mary and us will be comforted, because we are not forsaken by the One who broke suffering's crippling power.

John 19:15 (KJV)
"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene."