I, like many others, wonder where God is when I am in so much pain. Sometimes I think, if God is with me then the pain should subside, so where is HE?  This week I believe I stumbled upon the answer.

I have the opportunity to share a bit of time with a beautiful 1 year old girl that is teething. This teething seems to be very painful. She’ll reach for me to pick her up as she is crying. A few moments later she is pushing me away, as she continues to cry, to set her free. As soon as her feet touch the ground, she’s reaching up for me to pick her up again, and this process repeats. I believe that she thinks that I somehow should take away her pain. She is quickly frustrated with me when the pain remains. The pain is so bad though, she reaches for me again in the hopes maybe, just maybe I can take it away.

I, we, seem to accept physical pain as part of life, but emotional pain (which could stem from physical circumstances) is viewed as something that I should be exempt of. That’s typically when I, we, question the presence of God, for just like the little girl, I, we, think if He is here then that pain should subside.

We all know that pain, big or small, physical or emotional, is just part of life. We are not exempt of it. Our Creator is with us through it, and the level of pain will not change because of His presence but the length of pain will indeed be shortened when we embrace the pain and lean on Him through it.

So I, we, should work hard on never asking the ‘why me’ question and the ‘where are You’ question. Let us accept and embrace the pain and let us not get frustrated with our Lord and Creator rather continually lean on Him and talk with Him through it 🙂