Today's Devotional
June 4, 2008
Subject: Issues To Deal With; Issues To Feel With
2 Corinthians 1:4 "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."
I remember the pain of going to divorce court in the fight over my daughters. Of course all divorce is ugly and when children are involved, it gets that much uglier. Every occasion was heart-wrenching as I, the dad, was faced with the prospects of losing the daily interaction with my daughters. It was a long drawn out battle and it went on for a couple of years and through it all I grew. However, along the way, I picked up issues. Issues that I've come to realize are part of God's purpose.
Last week, a couple of sisters who are cadets in my JROTC program, came into my office to talk about why one of them was leaving the house/family of six (2 parents, 4 girls) and going to live with a neighbor. The "leaving" sister kept on talking about how bad it felt for her dad to tell her that he didn't love her and she went on to say that she heard her parents speaking in the other room about how "she is the problem in this family." That's heavy stuff for a teenager. The other sister, who is older and an outstanding, graduating-with-honors student, really broke my heart when she responded to her sister by saying, "well you need to learn to deal with it (dad not loving you)." She went on to say, "how do you think I feel when I do the best I can at everything and he still tells me that he hates me." I couldn't believe my ears. This is where my issues came to the front. I immediately began to grieve and couldn't imagine how any dad could ever say that to his daughters. My eyes began to water and I spoke to them about how many parents simply don't know how to express love and I let them know how much it hurt me that they don't feel the love that they should feel from their dad.
It was quite emotional and I realize now that God sends us through pain because He went through pain and He wants us to understand what that feels like. He's not doing it "just" to do it. He's doing it so that we can feel what others feel. Most people can sympathize with others. Yes they feel sorry for them. However, empathy goes one further. They don't just feel sorry, they feel "it," because they've been there.
Christ was one who could say to us, "I know what you're feeling." He gives us that privilege also by sending us through tribulations. Not all "issues" are bad. God-given issues have purpose. He's not just giving you issues to deal with. He's giving you issues to feel with.
Carlen
