Weekly Devotional #013

Suffer Well...

I remember being in the NICU when my daughter was on breathing machines with a terrible case of RSV. I remember pleading with God for it to go away; I remember the ‘silence’ I felt from the Lord for those 10 days as the doctors were perplexed as to why she wasn’t getting better…

In all my praying for my daughter, deep down beneath the surface of ‘concerned parent’ was ‘pain avoider’. You see, I wanted my daughter’s condition to get better - I wanted her pain to go away - but, if I’m being honest, I wanted the pain I felt from seeing her in pain to go away more…

The Lord, in His love, reminded me that in this pain - this gut wrenching uncertainty - I was being invited to be more like Christ by trusting Him in the midst of my suffering; I didn’t know how to sit with inescapable pain and trust God at the same time; it felt like juggling anvils…

I still struggle with sitting in suffering and trusting God in the midst of it, but today the Holy Spirit dropped this in my mind - the feelings attached to our emotions don’t determine how good they are; how we honor God with them does (I’m still unpacking this, so forgive any ambiguity).

Shorten the distance between your feelings and your going to God; go to Him the moment the weight of this life becomes unbearable. Ask the Holy Spirit to help because, oh boy, does He help! Go to therapy, call on friends, reach out to advisors; do it all. We’re not guaranteed happiness - we are called to walk in joy, even in the midst of suffering. All this to say - suffer well, my friends…

Love y'all,
Sheim
IV His Glory