Hope in the pain

It has been a hard few days and some of the most beautiful ever.  When I left my home we had 4 children, plus one son-in-law, plus one grandson.  I now have returned back with an additional, beautiful, tiny, little granddaughter in the mix.    That has been the beautiful part of my past few days.

 The hard part has been that one of my children has been struggling with stomach stuff.  She is sick and can hardly eat.  She is in pain and has very low energy.  She has been sent to the hospital twice in two weeks.  Dehydrated, scared, and doesn't live near enough for this momma to just drop by and check in.  It has been so incredibly hard on me.  To watch someone you love go through something that you can't stop, change, or make better is excruciating.  But it doesn't compare to what I know she feels.  How do I know? Because I have been there.  I have sat in the sick seat.  I have felt alone, confused, and in pain.  But because I have sat in that seat I also know that it can get better.  I also know that it doesn't get better for some people.  Some people stay sick for a very long time.  Some people die sick.

So what do we do with this reality?    

We hope.

We hope with the idea that we can, could, might, maybe get better.  Hope is something that could only come from God.  It is a gift that has come through salvation and redemption.  The idea of hope comes from the cross.  It comes from death, and despair being redeemed through resurrection.  I am not sure how people can go through any pain that this world has to offer without hope.  Hope that one day, someday all will be made right.  We will be fully healed, reconciled, loved, welcomed, not ashamed, not alone, without grief and in the arms of a Heavenly Father who has always promised to never leave us or forsake us.  

Life is hard.  It is painful, both in physical sickness and in mental anguish.  But it is not hopeless with Jesus.  I hope moment by moment.  Praying that the pain will be eased, the grief lightened, the dispair eased.  I know that it might be today, in this body, in this life, that relief will come, but I know that it might not.  Getting up each day with a mountain or a kernel of hope is a gift that I pray you to have.  Let it be what sustains you in your hurt and carries you in your pain. Hebrews 13:6 So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?"

My Prayer is that you understand this hope that I talk about.  Whatever your pain, I pray that you come to understand that God is with you, beside you, in it with you.  I pray that you will feel the loving arms of our Heavenly Father wrapping around you and sitting with you in your heartache.



LL