Pain

Often, I am being asked, "Is the baby in any pain?"  I get asked that by concerned friends, but also by medical professionals.  And the quick version is ... not that I know of. 

Manny is a "Learn to be content in whatever state" kind of kid.  He rolls with the punches.  He endured a LOT of pain in the hospital and he was able to let it go easily. 

But the truth is ... I don't really know if he's in pain. 

And every now and then ... like last night ... he cries and I can't figure out what is the problem.  And that causes ME a lot of pain.  It breaks my heart to know he's suffering and I can't do a stinkin' thing about it.  I pray and sometimes I get a word of knowledge about something to do for him.  But other times, all I can do is ask God to take away the suffering. 

And in those moments, I contemplate the sufferings of Christ.  Not that I am partaking in the sufferings of Christ but I consider all the suffering He did.  We often think about the suffering of His death.  (Which is beyond thinkable.)  Or the sufferings He endured while on Earth.  But I also know He suffered a lot prior to His human existance and He continues to suffer with us.  Don't know if you've ever considered that. 

In these moments, I also think about Pain in general.  Humans are designed to avoid pain and head towards pleasure.  We're wired that way.  And most of us will do almost anything to avoid pain.  It's why people go to numbing agents like drugs or alcohol or pornography.  It's why people bury themselves in hours of TV.  We're trying to avoid pain. 

But we are supposed to look around and see the suffering around us.  We are supposed to DO something about it. Matthew 25 says we're to go ease the suffering of others and if we don't ... It's like He never even knew us.  I believe we can't truly call ourselves Christian and not notice and help remedy the pain in other people's lives.  If we don't, then we aren't Christ like. 

The other day (not bragging here, just making a point).  I was in Walmart.  We were out of everything and I'd just gotten home from the hospital.  It was crazy busy there and I noticed a woman in a wheelchair.  People were in their own little worlds busily going ... and were cutting her off.  I walked over to her and asked if she needed some help getting somewhere and she burst into tears about how she had just had back surgery, people weren't noticing her and the tears just flowed.  I left my cart and cleared the aisle from the back of the store to the front.  I put my hand (lightly) on her back and prayed God healed her.  I pronounced blessings on her and sent her away with the message that someone noticed her. 

The whole thing took 5 minutes and as I went back to my shopping, I started to weep and thanked God that he had changed my heart somewhere along the way.  I was never a super selfish person nor a cold hearted one ... but now He has given me the heart to notice suffering.  I notice pain. 

And so I come full circle in the discussion.  The point isn't to AVOID pain. The point is to go TO the pain of others and be a blessing, to help relieve some of the suffering. 

What about YOU?  Start noticing suffering and pain around you.  Let it change your heart.  Find out what God wants you to do about it.  And do it.