The Pain of a Mother

All of us moms can relate: it is so difficult to see your child in any kind of pain. It doesn't matter if it's physical or emotional; we want to comfort our children. As parents, we can feel especially helpless or anxious when there is simply nothing we can do to alleviate our child's suffering. If possible, you would do most anything to remove their burden. You'd take it upon your very own body if you could. You pray and pray... and pray again.

And that's the way the Lord intends us to be: ever-praying, loving, sacrificing, compassionate, and merciful with our sweet children. He allows us to endure situations and trials to grow us into beautiful people. Some of the hardest lessons we learn involve understanding just how truly powerless and helpless we are to change many situations.

This week I listened to reports and wept as I heard of our grandson's suffering. I so wanted to alleviate the pain he was feeling, and I wanted to throw my arms around his parents and relieve some of the burden. But I couldn't. There was literally nothing I could physically do to help them.

Yet, my grandson has access to the best medical care in the world. He receives regular medical exams. He has medical insurance. He has parents can put him in the car and whisk him to the doctor or to their choice of hospital. Once diagnosed, our grandson received immediate and a superb medical care. We may still feel anxious, but we know that he was in the best possible place to receive appropriate care.

Now, if my grandson had been born on a different continent--- say, Africa---and in a different socio-economic environment--- how would the situation be different? Do moms in Africa or other nations feel any less for their kids? In general, moms all over the world want the absolute best for their children; that's just the way we were created. Moms would gladly give their children anything:  the food they need to grow, the education they need to mature, the love they need to flourish, the medical care they require... if they could. But life is different for much of the world; the world is not like America, where a person can somehow manage to obtain medical care and the basics of life.

I could quote all sorts of statistics about the shortage of doctors, and the shortage of water, and the shortage of food... but you've probably heard that so many times that you just don't even listen to it any more. But listen to this: how would feel if you watched your child suffer from a disease and could do nothing to alleviate his pain? How would you feel if you watched your child die? The feeling that a mother or a father experiences is no different if you live in America, or if you live in Africa. The pain is unbearable and sometimes beyond our immediate capacity to process. Humans are all alike: we may look different, but we fiercely love our children.

Please pray for the Lord to break your heart for the things that break His heart. Pray that He would show you how you can reach out and relieve some of the burden and helplessness many around the world experience every day. Try to feel the pain of your sisters around the world.  If you saw death on your doorstep, you'd take action.  Don't let distance be a barrier to love and help.

James 2:14-20 (New Living Translation)

 ¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
 ¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
 ¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?