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| photo courtesy: Dimitris Papazimouris |
"MOMMY! DADDY!"I got up and hurried into our daughter's room, and there she was, tears streaming down her face. She had thrown up in the bed while she slept. Some wake up call, huh?
Anyway, I went immediately into task mode. Pull off the sheets, peel off the clothes, wash the face and hair, dry (not my forte...) the face and hair. All the things that she, in her moment of pain, would not think to do for herself. She just wanted daddy to make things right. After I got her hair dried and she was redressed, I changed faces a little. Before I had been primarily in clean up mode, with a little bit of sympathy thrown in (also not my forte...). Now, however, I just held her there in my lap, rubbed her back a little bit, and spoke soothing words to her. And I prayed for her little stomach, out loud, so that she could hear and understand the importance of praying at all times for all things (an important piece of the armor of God!).
As I sat there and holding her in my arms and praying, the events of the early hours of the morning replayed in my head. And I realized that just as I had heard her crying out in the dark, so also God hears us calling to Him. In the midst of our pain and misery, God hears our cry to Him.
"FATHER! HELP!"And He answers. It may not always be in the way that we expect Him to, but He answers our prayers. He ministers to us in our pain in ways that we cannot even fully understand in this life. It is a good thing that, just like my daughter called for me, the first place we run in times of trouble or hurt is to the arms of our heavenly Father, who cleans up our messes and comforts our hearts better than any parent could.
So, lesson learned? Maybe. But I have two questions that I still need to ponder, and that I want to leave you with.
First, is God the first person to hear of your pain? Run to Him. Cry out to Him. He is there and He will answer. He sent His Son to take on human flesh, to live among us as one of us, so that He could sympathize with us in our weakness. You could have no greater God and Father than Him.
Second, is God the the first person to hear of your joy? Just like a child calls out for help, she also runs to tell her parents about every little happy thing that happens in her life. So also we should run to God with everything that thrills us. He wants to celebrate and rejoice with us in our happiness as well. Run tell Him how blessed you are, and then praise Him for the blessing.
That you might know Christ,
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