The Pain of Watching Your Children's Pain...

Our daughter, Abby, had her wisdom teeth out on Monday.  When she came home and the medicaton wore off, she was in great pain for a while until the additional medication took effect.  As a dad, watching her in that condition was hard.  It hurts to see our children hurt, doesn't it?  Whether the pain is physical, or emotional, or spiritual, we want to protect our children from it.  Yet, we all know that some pain is necessary in life.  In fact, sometimes unless we endure pain we can't grow or move forward in life.  No one knows that better that our Heavenly Father.  We can't even imagine the pain He must have felt in watching Jesus endure the pain of Good Friday.  A long time ago, when Nancy was pregnant with our first child, the pregnancy ended with a miscarriage.  I had never experienced pain like that.  In my sorrow I shouted at God, "You have no idea what it's like to lose a child!"  Nancy and I had been praying for God to give us our first child for years at this point, so the pain of that loss was immense.  No sooner had I finished the challenge to God than I realized----Yes, He does.  He has endured the loss of a perfect child.  He had to watch as His Son was executed by those for whom He came as Savior.  It didn't lessen my pain at the moment, but it helped me realize that God does understand the pain we experience when our children hurt, or at the extreme end of matters--die.  While I don't understand the why behind some of the suffering our children face, Good Friday helps me remember that God has endured far more than any of us, and is always there to strengthen us in our times of hurting for the hurts of our children.