Recently, I spoke with a mother who found her son after an overdose. As we talked, I shared my faith and my belief that her son was in God’s care. Through her grief, she only asked me a single, heartbreaking question: “Where was God when he died?”

My response—and what I truly believe—is that God was with him in that moment. Though her son died alone in his room, he was not truly alone.

When we enter the world, we are alone. By this, I do not mean that we are unloved or unsupported; I simply mean “exclusive of anyone or anything else”. When we look in a mirror, we see only our reflection, and we understand that we alone are responsible for our lives and how we choose to live. God gives us life, and as we begin our journey, each of us has the opportunity to build our lives, to create amazing relationships, and be there for each other. We are given a choice, to live life in bitterness or joy, and in either case, we walk toward our final moment as one individual person alone in the sense that we have an individual soul sent into the world by a God who only asks that we love Him and that we follow His son. Alone does not mean without others in our lives, but it is our individual journey that leads to a life in paradise or something else.  When we have faith, we are never really alone because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a part of our lives. 

When I look at our world, I witness anger that seems to infect every aspect of our daily lives. I wonder if we have forgotten how quickly time moves and how fragile life truly is. It is hard to comprehend our unwillingness to acknowledge that there is a God and that He sent a Savior to rescue us from death. So many of us look in the mirror and only see ourselves looking back, and others see a soul granted this time to make a difference and honor our one true God, the one who created the universe and forms each of us to live our lives with the ability to choose Him or emptiness.

I have come to know so many who have lost so much and understand the loneliness they feel. Their pain is excruciating, and the devastation of life’s trials and tribulations has left them unwilling to see that God is always with them. It is up to each of us to choose loneliness or to open the door and conquer that loneliness. Alone, we must choose to live our lives with the joy of knowing Christ or the bitterness of anger and true loneliness. Family and friends do not conquer true loneliness; only a relationship with Jesus can. 

So, when asked “where was God”, I know that He is there and when we die, Christ is waiting and He welcomes us into paradise because our faith has saved us. In this month dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, know that you are never alone, even if your family and friends are gone, because Christ walks with you if you ask Him to. 

God Bless.

Andrej N. Lah