Reading your story, I guess I qualify as one of God's more emotionally and empathically wired daughters. However, I refer to it as "my ministry" because it can truly be a silent way to communicate God's love and compassion. God bless you!

I alsohave the "gift of tears". I didn't realize it was a gift until a good friend of mine told me that he realized the compassion I had, ahd saw my gift. After that I didn't mine crying in front of anyone. I realized my tears were being used in a positive way.

Strange to read about this lady's tears. I love the thought that I'm not alone. The silly thing is I suffer from 'dry eyes' and have to use artificial tears each day.... but get me on an emotional track, and soon the old tears flow! What a positive outlook she has.

Thank you very much for the article. I didnt know at all that tears can be a gift or used for something positive, other than crying when in pain, when someone died or cry due to extra hapinness. I am crying lady but never thought the way you put it. When I talk about something that i hate - tears come down, when i advise my daughter on something and she doesnt want to listen - tears come down, I talk about what God had done for me - tear come down, i cry on so many occassions and i started feeling foolish. Now i have been fighting not to cry even when i want to. I say to myself "not now, not now" or i will just say "i refuse to cry today". Now i realise that if crying is used in a positive way, it can make a difference.

I am the exact opposite. In order to survive I ended up learning NOT to feel. But this past year God began opening up my heart and healing me through tears. He's been giving me opportunities to weep over moments in my life that deserved tears - mostly in grief. But slowly but surely He is also giving me moments to weep in joy!

Thank you for this article. I too can totally identify with this. I've been embarrassed for years in church and many other situtations with tears. I thought I needed to 'grow up' and get past this emotionalism. Due to many circumstances, I became very depressed, finally went on medication (took many years to get to that point) and then almost couldn't cry. Then I realized what a 'gift' tears are. To be able to feel is a gift. If I express it in tears, then that is who I am, and how God made me. Nothing to be ashamed of. To deny my tears would be to deny a part of myself. It is as much a part of me as my right arm. It is part of the whole of who I am.
Now that I am over the depression, I love the old me, and accept her more than I did before.

i do like this article very much. i am living in germany and i am married to an american manand i do cry and let my tears run so long i want . if i do feel like crying ,i dont stop,it doesnt metter if i am walking my dog and people can see it or if i do meet the post-men or or or,cryin helps you to feel free.
so if you have a reason for you to cry let your tears go . my husband got used on my thinking about tears,because the american way from him did not affect me,like he said,crying want help you,it is helping.
margit kieslich humes

The tears are flowing as I read your article, one I could have written. And like others , I have realized there are many who do not understand my teary reaction to life's many moments. This "gift" which is misunderstood, I too, have wanted to hide and not share even with those closest to me. But I believe it reflects the heart of Christ when I embrace it. It is my reaction when I have a glimpse into one's heart, and see pain, love or joy; or when I have shared my own.

I was touched by the article and I did not know weeping is a ministry from God to bless others.

Thanks for this article, I too am a crier. I cry when I'm hurt, sad, mad and happy. I cry when my heart is full of gratitude for what God has done for me. I have often been embarrassed by my tears but I remind myself of something I heard at a women's retreat- Tears are the word of your heart that your mouth can not express.

Ah, the ministry of tears. We often ask the wrong questions. More often than not, in this world, the question really should be "Why AREN'T you crying?!" Too many of us are stone cold or blind to the plight of the lost or frightened soul.

We have to remember to allow ourselves to be moved by the things that would move Jesus' heart.

Thank you for your article. For years, I was the friend who would counsel my friends and be the shoulder to cry on, but didn't really understand. Tears only came to me when I was very, very deeply moved or in severe pain. After I turned 27 my hormones started to change and I suddenly became "weepy." I now cry at video clips at church, sweet emails, minor personal problems and at the sight of other's tears. Your article confirms that tears are both a natural and beautiful expression, and there's no need to be ashamed of them. Thank you for including the scripture "Jesus wept." It reminds me that Jesus, the best man that ever lived, cried and recorded it for us to see.

I loved all the comments on crying, how sad if a person cannot cry. When our boys were in highschool my husband lost his job and went into a depression, one night our youngest son caught him crying. Later our son lost an important State wrestling match by a bad call. He cried! Said he new it was O.K because he saw his dad cry! Tears are cleansing and theraputic.

It's funny how God works sometimes! As I sit at my computer with tears running down my face from a stressful day in this world. My email alerts me that I have email. I opened it to find this blog. Thank you for such a honest view of tears. You have touch me!

I want to point out that tears are not only an emotional response with great therapeutic value for the soul that releases them, but they are certainly a special gift which God can use to help others. The shedding of tears for/with another person going through pain and loss is one of the most sincere and visible ways of showing your love and empathy for them.
Also, tears are a form of worship, just as singing and praising God. The woman in Luke 7:36-50 may have been weeping tears of repentance, but the flavor of the passage (with her subsequent wiping of His feet with her hair) also behooves us to understanding that this woman was worshipping her Savior as well.
One final point about tears- I have sometimes found myself in emotional extremis, overcome with the pain or immensity of dealing with some “insoluble” problem or terrible tragedy. I am unable to even understand how I should pray. In such cases, my tears often flow out in immense waves from deep within me and serve the same function as the “groanings too deep for words” in Rom 8:26. I just trust that the Holy Spirit is expressing through my tears that which He desires to hear sincerely uttered from the depths of my soul.

I have a hard time crying in front of others, although I've done it when by myself. I'm afraid others will be overly concerned about me or will misunderstand me. Often I cry when I think of how my sin breaks God's heart, or when a hymn sung at church touches me deeply. A friend of mine said something once about evil being defeated or disarmed when tears are shed. That encourages me to not be ashamed of shedding tears.

Thank you so much for this article. It came at a perfect time for me. I too was in tears while reading this article. What a gift tears are!! I used to be ashamed of them but they say so much. I have always held everything in and tears are such a release. When I am upset I write. I can go back and read what I write and can be in tears, but I think, as a counselor once told me, it's because I write what I need to hear. My family always discouraged my tears but I think they are just uncomfortable. My aunt that I was closest to that has since passed away told me I had shed enough tears after my dad died. That hurt!! God is the only one who should judge how much is too much. Anyway, thanks again for this. I am still in tears!

As I read Camerin's blog I felt my eyes well up. But, I am at my desk at work and my desk faces the door! So, I try to pull them in. But, I know after seasons of trying to squish the tears that tears are what I'm about. I do agree that I think God gives some of us the gift of tears. There are sometimes when I feel so stressed about life that I know a good cry would you relieve everything. So, I go rent a touching, possibly sad in parts, but has a good ending movie and get the tears out. My brother-in-law thinks I'm crazy! But, it works.

what an article,it's quite a good work done.It's great to know that there is beauty in tears.Tears can be a sign of joy,freedom,success and good things anyone could imagine as it could be of pains,sorrow,etc.

This article was wonderful not to mention it's nice to know I'm not the only weepy one out there! LOL! Growing up I rarely cried and was disturbed by my lack of it. My heart had grown hard from needing to protect myself from others and because of this I didn't want to show any vulnerability. When I came back to the Lord in '99 my heart started to soften and I became a crying machine! Crying for others and while praying for others, crying for myself, crying when I saw sappy commercials etc. I'm still not used to it yet and sometimes when in public I'll pray silently and ask the Lord to help me to keep the tears at bay at least until I get home. I don't see anything wrong with crying in public mind you I just worry about running nose and eyes and yes running mascara. LOL! Thanks for this article!

I also tear often. It is so nice to know of others. I recognize often it is my compassion spilling out. When my boyfriend gives me strange looks when I cry during tv shows, movies, or commercials I try to explain that part of it is showing appreciation of the art by really getting into it and part of it is the compassion that he loves in me spilling out. I have grown more comfortable in the frequency in which tears spring to my eyes but have also developed methods of squelching in the work place where I question their appropriateness.

I have felt sort of freakish about my tears before too. You are not alone. I do agree with others though that I think those of us gifted with tears are super blessed with the gift of compassion. I'd never want that to go away in a million years. It's what helps me relate to the lives of even total strangers in a very real way. It is truly a gift - even if it feels kinda out of control sometimes!

I, too, am a weeper. I was called "Princess Cries-a-Lot" during our Ya-Ya-Sisterhood phase. Now some new friends - also weepers - call us "Team Cryer." I'm fortunate that most people appreciate my tears, even though I get a lot of good natured teasing about it. It's okay though. My nieces used to look to me when they were performing and say, Aunt Yvonne, Are you crying? I think they looked forward to my crying. I think they knew I cried because I loved them and was proud of them. The tears are falling now just thinking of them. I'm getting ready to go to a wedding in a few minutes where I'm "expected" to cry as well. I'm sure I will not let the bride down.

I hope you let your friend know nothing good can come from dating a non christian
only trouble . I also hope you keep in contact with her and sees she ends this before to much dammage is done. No matter how lonely someone is it not ok to date some we you unequally yoked with . It only brings pain Remind to listen to what she already knows and not to ignore it.

I was so blessed to read the article and all the comments above. I too am a crier from a very young age. When my friends were hurt in school and had to go home I'd be sent home too cause I was so sad and cried so much. For years I felt that it was something I needed to get over and "grow up." Tonight I was sitting in the car waiting for my husband and had the thought that I should ask my therapist if some people were just more melancholic than some. So I think the Lord meant me to read this so that I would realize that He has blessed me with the "gift of tears." Thank you all for sharing so honestly.

So many of us are weepers! I feel encouraged, knowing that I'm in such good company. I cried often as a child, over anything, everything, and nothing--and, in 69 years of living, have never managed to "outgrow" it. I had always considered my tearfulness a sign of immaturity, a failure to grow up emotionally. Instead, it is actually a gift! Wow.

I too was often ashamed of my easily shed tears. Ps. 56:8 says "You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?" When I read this a few years ago, I realized my tears are treasured by my Heavenly Father! What a beautiful thought!

Thank you for sharing this with us, Camerin. Ever since I was a child I have been a very emotional person, and even now in my adulthood (I still can't see myself as an 'adult', but rather it is easier to call myself a 'Child' of God), I still get very emotional. The truth is, I had never looked at my emotions, my tears, as a 'Gift from God'. It was heart-warming to read this, and I know will go a long way in my figuring out my emotions in a way that's not simply 'what is wrong with me this time?'.

So thank you, and God bless!

I am blown away by this revelation of my tears being a ministry and also a precious gift from my God. I was so ashamed of crying especially now that I've become a child of God because I used to think it made me look weak to other saints and also the enemy. I have even prayed and not only asked but begged God to not let me cry anymore in church because I will never be seen as a true warrior for the Kingdom. I am so glad that he never gave me what I wanted and that he used you to tell me why it didn't.

Thank you so much God for loving me enough to deny my wish and thank you Camerin for being an available vessel for God to use to minister to so many of us.

I also want to thank you for this article. I have,as far back as I can remember, been one who cries easily. It was not until I was in my 40's that someone told me that it shows that God has given me a heart of compassion.

I cried when my first husband died. I went into a deep state of depression when my 2nd husband decided to separate and then divorce after a few months of marriage. My tears were very plentiful but over the months so healing and cleansing . As I was coming out of the depression I found that often I was weeping but it did not seem to be for me and my problems. What God allowed me to see was that I was weeping tears for other people and situations. Sometimes I get to find out who they are for but not always. I just rejoice in the fact that God is letting me use my tears,gift of weeping and praying to benefit someone else.

May God continue to Bless You and all the rest of us that have been gifted with weeping.

Thank-you so very much! I speak to the women at church sometimes, and I can not help crying sometimes. One woman came up to me and said "Thats the Holy Spirit in you, its okay to cry" and that helped me so very much. Before that I thought I couldnt speak well. That was the enemy telling me I couldn't speak well. and I believed him, but now I know that He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. Ann Philbeck

It is so wonderful to know that there is someone else out there who has the gift of tears. I too cry at commercials, weddings, anything and I have always been embarassed by it. But after read this article I am encouraged to view my tears as a strength. Thanks you!

I too am a crier. I cry when somemoe does somethimg nice for me. When others are hurting and especially when I pray and think about about my wonderful Lord and all He has done for me.
I cry for others who are in need, and alone, others who have hardened their hearts to the love of God.
I used to feel bad because I cried in front of others, now I am thankful that I have a heart that is soft and pliable to my Lord.
I enjoyed the above articles and glad others experience this ministry also.
Vi Corno

Thank you so very much for this article. For all my life, I have thought that I am a freak. Crying at TV shows, Movies, seeing someone else cry (where I just want to go up to them and give them a big hug), cry when I am sad, happy, angry,upset, proud of my children and now my grandchildren. I cry at funerals, even if I didn't know that person, I cry at weddings and so on. I am in deep depression now and am slowly coming out of it. Due to my medication being changed, I am feeling more and more like my old self again, very emotional and sensitive to everything. Someone swears at me or says something in anger, I cry and it hits me straight in the heart. Again thank you, now I know that I am normal and that it's unconditional love that I must be feeling. Don't get me wrong, I have learnt to stop my feelings coming to the surfice, but I am letting them go more and more every day.

I am amazed by the number of responses that have been posted. The article made me cry--does that tell you anything??

I have spent my life telling myself to "grow up" and stifle the tears and was also criticized by an ex-spouse for being emotional, so have much pain bottled up inside which then pops out at inoppotune times. Guess I always thought there was something wrong with me for being emotional. Maybe now after reading this I can start learning to accept myself and not be ashamed of the tears. Thank You.

I see only women responding, but I think that it is because this was tucked into the women's section, too.

My previous Pastor wept openly when he was strongly moved. I loved that about him, and it blessed me to see the tears and to hear him say that he had to learn to let 'em flow, it's a Godly trait.

My present Pastor has kicked himself when he has been moved to tears, but we all let him know that it blesses us. It's a comfort to see someone who doesn't have to be stoic about praying a young man, barely out of his teens going to Iraq... It's humbling, and it's an indication of a depth of perception that makes us more than superficial in our walk through this life. Tears prove we are real...to ourselves and to others. There are some who can cry and be phony. So what? There are those who are phony about everything else too, and we don't stop feeling the other feelings.

It's also a comfort to know that someone "gets" it when we are suffering. We don't need him to hurt the same way or depth...just to understand that we ARE - hurting.

There is something real in a tearful countenance....

Psalm 56:8 "... put my tears in your wineskins".

God puts all our tears in a bottle and he counts them. He sees.

"Weeping my endure for a night but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5.

I am a crier too. I can just think of a sad situation and I tear up. I guess it's partly personality driven.

Regardless I am fearfully and wonderfully made as are you. We are who we are.

I was so encouraged when I read of Jesus' angst in the Garden of Gesthemene. I thought, "If Jesus can cry and feel angst..." Well, you know the story...what freedom. Tears are a gift, and even more so when a friend entrusts us with their tears. I loved this article. Thank you.

Thank you for the article. I have been a crier my whole 33 yrs of life. It is a blessing to know that there are others like me out there. I cry when a sad song hits me, someone else is crying, I cry when I'm angry, mad, happy,watching a sad movie or hearing a heartbreaking story. etc. I was teased alot when I was a kid because of my tears. I am not ashamed of the fact that I cry, though it is embarrasing at work. It is nice to read that I'm not strange and the Lord knows why I do cry and he made me this way

I just wanted to say that I was happy to read your story and find that tears can be a gift something a never knew untill now.So now I dont think I will be so ashamed to share that gift with other so they to can enjoy that same gift.

I cry alot, mostly because my son died about a year ago, but even before that I cried alot. I have a sister-in-law that constantly makes unkind comments about her sister-in-law that weeps alot. I never understood this. It has bothered me quite a bit. I have no idea what to say to her and have now come to think it is her problem, not mine or the other sister-in-law. What do you say to someone like this?

Thank you Camerin. I have always been emotional and thought I would outgrow this as an adult. I always get quite embarrassed at my tears in public. I can tear up over others pain whether I know them or not. I had never thought of it as a gift from God before now.

Thank you for sharing, I too never realized or looked at my flood of tears as a blessing. I wasn't to much of a cryer until after my kids were born- then the floodgate! At everything. It is a catharsis, but I never felt comfortable letting other people see me cry- unless I was with a client having their beloved pet euthanized. Especially my kids... I was so wrong in that... I appreciate now what my tears mean and what they express to God and to others now... Thank you all.

I have been a crier all my life. As I was growing up my father always fussed at me when I cried. Now after 46 years and reading Camerin's blog, I no longer feel ashamed of my tears.

I was glad to read an article about another "cryer!" My boss Mary Ellen just lost her mom and yesterday I kept crying every time I thought of it. I know I am a compassionate person but sometimes I do wonder WHY I cry the way I do. I don't always feel comfortable crying in front of others but it sometimes happens. I think that when I think of the pain that others are going through it helps me to reach out to them and I think that reaching out is my gift. I don't always think of my tears themselves as a gift although sometimes I have seen people react positively to them. Other times I have prayed NOT to cry! I don't alway like it but I try to accept that this is the way that I am!

I have not been able to cry. It was a sign of weakness in my house growing up...and if you cried very long you were made fun of...so I learned not to cry. It was many years later in a counseling session when I was asked why I was fighting it...when I finally let go a damn broke and there was no stopping it.

I still don't like crying...but am learning to be a bit more comfortable with it...I am 43 and never married and have mostly lived alone...and still won't let myself cry.

Thank you for your message. It has helped me let go a bit.

Thank you so so much. This will be shared with my ladies Bible Study group! The article is such a blessing as well as the number of responces. We are all sisters in Christ and sisters in shared tears!

I consider your article on "The Beauty of Tears" refreshing! Thank you so much. I can relate very well because I am in your "company."

Tears for me is a visible expression of the HEART most specially that of LOVE and HUMILITY.

Thinking of GOD's AWESOMENESS and the GRANDEUR of HIS LOVE for US never fail to move me...

As a man, I have had tears in all kinds of situations--including hearing a testimony of how someone got saved. I have also been embarrassed by my tears at times and tried to cover them up.

I have been blessed by all your comments. I have found tears to be really healing--even to the point of helping my eyes to even see better and even helping to clear up my sinuses if I had a cold.

Reading a wonderful Christian love story about a man and a woman falling in love with each other--I have found that I have needed to wipe my eyes and sometimes to blow my nose.

WoW!!! What a tremendous out pouring of God's love! All of you are so very beautiful!

Camerin - Thank you so very much for sharing your story. After years of trying to stuff my tears away because of abuse, I have fought the negitivity of self hatred for all of my tears and anger that has welled up with-in me over the years. So many times I have struggled with feelings of worthlessness, and now I am begining to learn from counseling, and things like your story and all of the testimonies of the others here that I am not alone! www.helpovercomingpainfulexperiences.org

I so enjoy how the LORD uses other brothers and sisters in Christ to bring us together and draw us into himself for our own healing, and healing of others.

To Debbie from post on 11/18/07 - Perhaps you can refer your sister-in-law to read Camerin's Story. And encourage her that Tears are a sign of strength and NOT weakness. :O)

To Spencer: Thank you for being the only male I noticed on here thus far...Praise God for your sensitivity and honest transparency.

God Bless you All!
Trusting in HIM -

Tears are indeed a gift, I am also very weepy, here's a passage that confirms that

17 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.

18 Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.

Jeremiah 9:17-18 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Tears are indeed a gift, I am also very weepy, here's a passage that confirms that

17 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.

18 Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.

Jeremiah 9:17-18 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Yes, am also a cry baby by most people standard, but am most thankful to God for the way HE has fashioned me.. It is truly beautiful to worship God with your tears.. to share your friend:s pain in your tears and watch the beauty of God"s creation with your tears. Thank you so much for this article..God Bless you..

Trust me to cry reading this!!!
I understood you so well - I cry so easily and readily too........ It's a quality that used to embarass me until I realised that "tears are the safety valve of the heart".

Thank God that I can still feel emotion and cry when I need to.

I thought something was very wrong with me and all my tears, thanks for sharing, now I have company.

Thank you for validating me and making me feel somewhat 'normal'!! I have always thought my propencity to tear up at the slightest provacation annoying and I try to hide it. I love your assertion that God is trying to alert me to something that I need to deal with, first of all, and secondly, that it is a gift to empathize so much with others and to share in their tears. As others have said, it's so refreshing and a blessing to me to read that I'm not alone, and that God can use this thing that I've always considered a vice in my life to help others. However, I am one that feels that I am afraid to really let go and cry - because I feel that I might never stop! And I know I have some things to deal with in my life.... BUT GOD is BIGGER than all these things, and He uses things that we think are bad for our own good.... thank you so much for this article! I will keep it close by!

How refreshing to find someone else that's like me! I had a very compassionate father and I guess I inherited my tears from him. I cry for the same reasons that you mentioned, but I would never want to lose my tears. My brother once told me, "Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is applied!" I want to weep over what makes my Savior weep too.

I too appreciate your story Camerin. I cry too. I have always known I had compassion as a gift, but it is so hard sometimes to feel soooo much. Thank you for sharing, and to all of you who shared, thanks. It's good to know that you are not the only person around who cares so much.

It never ceases to amaze me how we all see the world differently and that no matter what our bent we can fall to the lie that we should be something else. Rather, we should realize we are all uniquely made with gifts and talents to use for God's glory, to build up the body of Christ, and to reach out to others.

I have never had the "gift of tears" and have always felt very unfeminine because of it. To go to a movie with a group of friends and be the only one not crying can also you feel like something is wrong with you. I definitely feel things for others. And books, movies, and sometimes even commercials move me but my body deals with it in other ways.

Just like crying with someone can be a wonderful blessing and encouragement to people - so can not crying. Sometimes someone needs a friend to just listen to them and not cry because they are tired of crying. Or they might need someone to make them laugh. The important thing is to realize who God made you to be and use it for Him!

What a beautiful article - it made me cry :)

I am also an emotional, teary person. But of late, I cry more when praying for needs or just standing in the gap for others. Sometimes just thinking about Christ and His love brings tears to my eyes and I have to hide them when I am with others.
I beleive tears are an indication of a deep feeling that words cannot express... only tears can!

God will bless each heart of compassion I too am an emotional weepy person, and I have too thought something was wrong with me, but I have experienced that tears draw hearts closer together, may we never be ashamed of cleansing, healing tears.God sees and cares for each tear that falls!

Thank you for these insights! I too am sitting here crying.

About 4 years ago, my mom had breast cancer. When the time came that she went onto hospice care, it was all I could do to not weep all the time. I still cry very easily and definitely any time that I think of her. Through some counseling, I found that I was the one person in the family who took on all of the crying, for all of us. My mom never told me not to cry. I know that it was my empathy and compassion kicking in. I think maybe she knew that too.

I wasn't like this when I was younger but this time with my mom changed me. I have always been able to "put myself in someone else's shoes" as my mom would say, but I just didn't cry.

It's very difficult to know what to do when all the tears come all the time and when people say it's ok to cry then walk away like you are crazy. It helps me greatly to know that this is a gift! And that Jesus wept and gave us other examples, that we might be able to understand and appreciate this aspect of ourselves.

As I read this article, I have tears in my eye. Growing up, my siblings make fun of me for crying harder than the bereaved. For this reason, I find it difficult visiting a bereaved friend/colleague/neighbour. When I knew It was helpless holding tears was when I cried in a hospital alongside a man who just lost his only brother, as he cried, I howled along with him though I didnt know them from anywhere. Most times I only need to think of something...good or bad for tears to come down. I cry when I sing praises, read an impressionable passage in the Bible or when praying. I now know tears can be used as a ministry. Thanks for the article. Its so liberating.

I enjoyed the article. However, I am not a "cryer." I do cry, when I feel the tears coming. I am not one to hold back tears, but I just don't do it often. I have a former church member who is very emotional. In the past, I thought something was wrong with her, or she was just 'fronting' or 'faking.' This article helps me realize that every person is 'wired' differently. Thanks for giving me insight into not judging another person's tears.

Eversince I became a Christian 20 yrs ago, tears would always accompany profound spiritual experinces.
And eversince I started singing for the Lord, I would know if it is a song He wants me to minister with, if I am moved to tears as I rehearse it.
Also, eversince he called me to the prayer ministry, I've come to understand that travailing is part and parcel of intercession.
God's Word says He collects our tears.
I'm look forward to seeing rows and rows of bottles filled with my tears when I get to heaven.

Oh,my. How do I spell relief. TEARS, and reading this article. I have cried about everything from seeing someone skid their toe to the passing of a loved one. It is such a relief to know that tears can also be words. It helps when I am depressed, to cry but others don't understand. So I take meds. How great is it to know that it is their problem, not mine.

This article has been so touching.This reminds me of how I got close to one of my friends.It was a time when his mother was hospitalised when he sent me a message to stand with him in prayer.Suddenly after a week, she passed away.The messsge he sent me about the mother's sudden death got me speechless to the extent of failing to talk to him on phone which my brother had to do on my behalf.I went to check on him before leaving for burrial.At seeing him, tears started flowing down my check which was not happening to him at that time.Though I didnot go for burrial,he later said that my tears were more than the people who had accompained him at the burrial and more than the condolences he had been sent.He also said that my tears signified that I was involved into the situation than he did. This brought us closer to the extent that we are now in our wedding preparations.Thank so much for the article and this alerts me that my tears are not invain.

Reading your story today in my newsletter is just what I need. All I can do is cry since having an ankle fusion on Sept. 18th. I cannot stop the flow when I feel so useless and grieve for the loss of my dignity, freedom, and independence. It is a struggle to continue to teach my boys on Wed. night but do with my husband's help. I kept all my melt downs as I refer to them to me and one close friend, because I knew my husband would get angry with me. The past two times I could not stop them in front of me. He is finally learning after 28 years a hug helps me. I am weeping just finding someone else who understands us tenderhearted people.
When I had a miscarriage between my two girls who are grown now, it was the tears of another woman that blessed me the most. God Bless you special as this blessed me so.

Oh at least i have read like me, i do cry whenever i am happy, when i feel sorry for someone, when i think a loved one is having a tough time, i can be sober on funeral but cry to myself for those left behind later on when evrybody is over and done with it, i read disturbing stories of abuse and i cry over the magazine. One day i cried because a crocodile caught a zebra for food, i felt sorry for the zebra and i cried. My 9 year old son explained to me that it doesn't matter mum. The other time i cried over a ficitious film. My husband just holds my hand when i start crying. Hey its so natural, it happens. Thanks

Thank You for your new letter it touch me so much because I cry alot to, I have mucsle skeletor disorder and immune disease and can't work anymore and I'm depressed also but now I work for the LORD and I especially cry when I'm at church on Sundays and when I have to go thru my treatments and the pain I'm in I thought it was all self pity but I can cry at a drop of a hat and I cry for others too so thank you, now I know that I'm normal also!!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

IN HIS LIGHT ALWAYS,
Missy

I too am a weepy woman and have had my fair share of embarassing moments due to the tears flowing at the most unexpected times. I always thought the tears were due to some kind of discontentment I have felt at one time or another. I used to be reluctant to have myself prayed over even if I had a need for the fact that the tears would flow. I always wondered if the people in church thought I was always unhappy especially since I went through a difficult divorce too. Infact I was recently saying that I couldn't wait for the day God would wipe all my tears away. Now I realise that there is a purpose in this gift. Thank you for sharing your story.

I am ashamed to admitt, I DON"T cry at anything. Some see this as heartless and cold. But when there is an emergency, I'm the one with the calm head who jumps into action. It is embarassing not to cry when evceryone around me is crying, but I must remember God made me this way. Even when there is a death in the family. I first handle the matter, and after the body is in the ground and the last dish is wash, then I cry. Always in private, for that is when God lets me feel the lost. So don't apologzy, but remember God does make each of us different. And some of us just can't cry even when we want to.

Thank you Lynn Morgan for putting your article of "Death of a Dream". I am going through a divorce too, and reading it I know every pain and thought you felt. It encourages women like me to keep my faith in God and to look forward to new beginnings.

Thank you for the article, its very compassionate. I donot tear always, but when I am so happy and at times when I do not understand whats happening in my life I cry and when my tears dry up I feel a lot of relieve. when I sit in meditation about God's goodness to me I often tear. In all tears is a good way of communication especially when one has lost the words to speak. God bless you for this beautiful sharing.

i was looking through an article on tears and came across this. i felt rather relieved after reading it. i find myself crying a lot also, sometimes i feel embarrased doing such but i can't control this part of my life, i have often been critised for it and felt badly but it's my way of expressing my emotions which comes out naturally. God bless.
charmaine.

I started crying when at three years old I was following a procession for the Virgin Mary with my aunt, and they were singing to her. I started crying so hard that was taken away and not taken to church any more due to the fact that they thought I hated it. Now I discovered that the sanctifies places or persons make me cry just in their presence, the stories about sick persons or persons at war, etc. Also in the Holy Mass when we repent of our sins before communion. I feel that I am weeping for the sins of the whole world, but I really want to know how to use the gift of Tears for benefit of most people.