I hate crying.

My one consolation with tears is the fact that I have really big, beautiful blue eyes, and when you add moisture to them, they glisten like an anime girl.

Let’s not mention the fact that my eyes also get all red and bloodshot, my nose starts to shine like Rudolph, and I’ll sniffle like I’ve come down with the common plague. Crying is gross. There’s snot, and liquid leaking from your eyes, and most of the time, you can’t really even help it.

Sometimes, I don’t even know why I’m crying, which makes me all the more frustrated, which makes me cry even more.

But God told me something about crying this week that might have just changed my perspective.

Nate The Hoof Guy

Alright, this change in conversation might give you some whiplash, but stick with me, I swear it actually matters.

If you’re in the very niche group of people (like me), then maybe you’ll get Nate The Hoof Guy on your Facebook or YouTube Reels. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain it now.

So there’s this guy online who takes care of cows (I love cows), and he mostly carves their hoof’s to help them walk better. Cow hoofs are kinda like fingernails, so the carving doesn’t hurt; it just helps. But sometimes rocks or other stuff get in the hoofs, and so it gets infected and causes a bunch of problems for the cows. The hoof will grow around the rock to try to protect the infected area from outside, but most of the time, that just covers up the problem.

(Here: Check out this video for an example! but fair warning, there is some grossness in it.)

When that happens, Nate has to carve away the hoof to release all the pressure inside. On the surface, it doesn’t look like there’s any problem, but once you start carving away at it, the problem is revealed. You keep carving, and all that pus from the infection that was hurting the cow is released, bringing the cow relief.

You get where I’m going with this?

Sunday Morning Cry-Fest

My family is experiencing a lot back home. They’ve been faced with some pretty big life-changing issues, and I can’t do anything about it. Why? I’m all in the way in Ohio. I’m completely and totally removed from the situation, and even though it’s happening to my siblings and parents, it’s not really happening to me.

But I’m still sad about it. I still care deeply about it. I pray about it all the time.

On Sunday morning, after a long and hard week, I was emotionally exhausted. I had all this pressure inside. I didn’t want to talk about what was bothering me, because it wasn’t really happening to me, and there wasn’t anything anyone could really do about it. During worship, all of it hit me at once, and I started to cry—and I mean like really cry. It was obvious, and I couldn’t stop it.

I was frustrated with myself. Focusing on my problems instead of God during worship? The nerve! But then I heard the whisper of God.

“Alli, I’m Nate the Hoof Guy,” he said. This made me stop crying for a second, cause that’s a really ridiculous thing to say to someone who’s crying. But then, he leaned in and said, “I’m carving away. Crying is how we release that pressure from the hurt inside of us. So please, let me carve and release that pressure. Go ahead and cry. Let it out.”

After that, I didn’t mind crying so much.

And you know what? I hate to admit it, but that pressure did release. Things are still going on with my family, but that pressure is gone. I know God has them, even though it’s scary. I can trust him with them, and I can cry about it when I need to, because it’s releasing the pressure inside so that God can heal the wound.

Do you let yourself cry? Really cry? Or do you hide away and wait until you’re alone? Do you hide your tears from God and the community he’s placed you in?

Crying isn’t my new favorite pastime or anything, but it is important. When you have that pressure inside, and you just need to cry…put on some worship music and get it out. Let God heal you.

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A huge way God has healed me is with daily affirmation of biblical truth. Don’t miss out on this free reminder to speak life instead of lies!