When God Weeps

I have been reading a beautiful book called "When God Weeps" for the past few months, and I am finally coming to the end of it. It's an amazing book, and if you haven't read it, you should. It gives us a grasp of what God is doing while we are suffering. It's written by Joni Eareckson Tada, (We all know her: the woman who was paralyzed from the waist down, and who paints with her mouth. If anyone knows about suffering, she does.) and Steven Estes.
I need to read it again, because it's just that good.
It hurts, though, too. And many times I just wanted to close it and not open it again. I did, several times. I put it down for weeks. But it is worth reading.
It's really not that long, somewhere around 250 pages.

I have included here a couple of excerpts from the book. The first is a poem Joni quoted, author anonymous. Maybe it'll give you an inkling, or some curiosity as to the rest of the book. The second is a paragraph from the second to last chapter, which was, by far, the most appealing of the chapters, recounting promises and the beauty we'll experience in Heaven. Both excerpts I copied out and have attached to the bulletin board that hangs above my desk so I may see them every day and have Hope.

Here is the first:

When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part.
When He yearns with all His heart to create so great and bold a man
That all the world should be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways.
How He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him into shapes and forms of clay
Which only God can understand.
While man't tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands;
Yet God bends but never breaks when man's good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him to try His splendour out.
God knows what He's about.

 This is the second:

Ever good pleasure on earth is but a shadow if its fulfillment in Heaven. The best of friendships are embryonic on earth, snatching only a few short years to mature. There's never enough time. Words can never convey what overflows our hearts. I experience this bittersweet sadness with intimate friends. I love them so much that I want to pass through them, reach the other side, to know them fully, be one with them. Not to posses, but to meld with them. I can't on earth. I'm on the outside of their heart's door, always wanting to get in, get closer, even while relishing in their company. My longings are eased know that in Heaven I will "get in." Jesus has deigned it: "Holy Father, protect them...so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:11)

So I hope you find the time to read this book.
Thanks for reading this post. :)
Love you all!
- Aisha