the sacrifice of pain

dear emily,

there are oceans of joy and laughter in raising children.  unfortunately,
there are also rivers of heartache.  the pain associated with our own
hopes and dreams diminishes in the wake of our childrens' pain and
fear.

there is a secret, i think, to pulling out the scarring thorn of these
heartaches.  it is the balm of gilead, the sacrifice of pain at His altar.
i have never seen it fail after 25 years of raising children and fifty
years of raising me.

the beauty is in its simplicity... no counseling, no memorization of
scripture, no fasting, no fighting...

one of my own dear ones is going through the valley, so i am
recently acquainted with this sacrifice.  if i had a stone to show
for all of my past sacrifices, i could build a little cottage.

here is my powerful weapon that extinguishes the fire from the
enemy's arrows.  when my children experience sorrow, i tell
them to lay their grief on His altar, showing their yieldedness
to His will.

one of two responses from Him are both very sweet.  He either
sends His grace and peace to soothe our pain from the loss or
restores that which was stolen from us.

the costly part, of course, is trusting Him and being willing to
lay down what we want to wrestle back.  after all, don't we
deserve it, doesn't  it rightfully belong to us?  david said that
he wouldn't think of sacrificing something that cost him nothing.

blessings,
lea