2 Kings 4-6 | Luke 24:36-53

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7, NLT

Whether we like it or not, trials and testing will come our way. As much as we would like to go around them, the only way for us to get through the trials and testing is to go through them. What accompanies trials and testing is often pain and many of us would like to eliminate pain from our life. Yet, God speaks through pain and He does wonderful things through pain. For example, if we are feeling pain in our body, it is a sign that there is something wrong and we need to attend to it. The worst thing we could do is try to eliminate pain from our life.

If we are a parent and have children, we often do not want our children to go through the trials with us. But the reality is we should take our children with us through the trials, instead of leaving them outside confused and wondering what is going on. Why? Because if we pretend to our children that life is pain-free, they are going to get an awful shock when they learn about pain. They only have to go to school and be bullied to know that life is not pain-free. If our home is a kind of pain-free zone, what our children will do is keep their pain to themselves since they do not feel like they can bring it into the home. When children do that, some end up becoming adults who take drugs to numb their pain. Hence, we need to deal with pain in a healthy manner.

My (Hilary Price) children have seen me cry: they see me cry when I put the phone down from speaking to somebody at home; they see me cry when something on the news upsets me; they sometimes see me cry if we have had an argument. Through being vulnerable with my children, my hope is that they learn that God is our refuge and strength. Even when we may not understand what is going on, we know that we have a Heavenly Father who takes care of us.

I remember many years ago, when my children were still young, I was crying and my son wrote me a little card. On the cover it said, “To Mom, don’t cry.” On the inside it had a small smiley face with the words, “I love you.” Then on the back it said, “God is with you in everything you do.” And on the bottom, he added, “P.S. Don’t tell Dad.”

If we find ourselves ignoring the pain, may we learn to deal with it in a healthy manner and cry out to our Heavenly Father.

PRAYER

Father God, thank You for the trials and testings in this life and the pain that often accompanies them. No matter what my life beholds, one thing I know is that You are with me through it all. Praise You!