"You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people....I have heard their cries for deliverance....Yes, I am aware of their suffering....now go, I am sending YOU" from Exodus 3
God sees suffering. He cares about those who cry and mourn and hurt, just as he did when he spoke those words to Moses. He longs to comfort, to be close to the brokenhearted, to whisper words of hope into hopeless ears. When he saw the misery of the people of Israel in Moses' day, he told Moses to go. I hear them, I want to comfort them, I want to be close to them.....you go.
So how does he comfort brokenhearted people today? Could it be that he still does it through people...through us?
Two weeks ago Jim and I were visiting longtime friends in Los Angeles. We have known Chris and Kathy since college. We even sang in their wedding 25 years ago. Like Jim and I, Chris and Kathy have had some unexpected bumps in the road. 15 years ago their 5 year old son, Peter, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He went through surgery and treatment to save his life. His life was indeed spared, but they no longer had the little boy they had before cancer. Peter was now disabled, handicapped, not able to do the things was able to do before surgery. Today he is 20 years old, a brain cancer survivor. Life is not easy for Peter, but he is a true hero in my book. Nothing comes easy for him, but he has graduated from high school and is taking classes at a local Jr College. He loves to play board games, plays piano, and LOVES to tell jokes. (The picture is of our 2 boys: Peter and Michael)
If you have ever been seriously ill or had a child who spent a lot of time in a hospital, you know that just walking into a hospital stirs up strong emotion. Most of us who have been through an experience like that avoid hospitals whenever possible. We don't want to revisit the pain of those days or months or years, but not my friend Kathy. After her son survived brain cancer, she and another mother started an organization to support families of children with brain tumors.
Every Wednesday Kathy spends the day at the LA Childrens' Hospital visiting children and parents of children who are fighting for their lives. Kathy attends more funerals in a month than I've attended in my lifetime. She visits parents whose children will live and lead normal lives, she visits parents whose children will survive only to relapse a year later or to remain handicapped and disabled, and she visits parents whose children will lose their battle to cancer. She visits people who are in pain, who are suffering, and whose hearts are truly breaking.
The question is: Why would someone do such a thing? Why would she revisit her own pain and walk the halls of that hospital with hurting parents? Why wouldn't she just take care of her son who is still struggling and deal with her own ongoing pain? The answer is actually very simple; because God has seen their pain, he has heard their cries and he longs to comfort them. And he says to one woman to go and be his presence there. Every time she puts her arm around a desperate mother, or sits by the bed of a suffering child, or attends the funeral of a cancer victim, or cries tears for hurting people (and she sheds plenty of tears)...she is Christ in the flesh.
I spent a day walking the hospital with Kathy, a Wednesday that will stay with me forever. We saw 27 children who are fighting for their lives. I saw fear and pain and heartache in the faces of many parents. But I also saw some of the bravest people I've ever met. I couldn't ask the question, "Where are you God?" because I was walking the halls with his representative. God was there.
I read a quote once that said, "God doesn't comfort us so that we'll be comfortable. He comforts us so that we can comfort." I realize that I too often turn away from situations that will cause me pain. I don't pour out my life like I should to hurting and lonely people. I wasn't put on this earth to be comfortable or even to deal with my own pain. I was put on this earth to reflect the glory of God. I was put here to make a difference.
God sees the suffering and says "Go". So every Wednesday Kathy goes to where the hurting people are.
"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.'
2 Corinthians 1:4
"Now go, I am sending you!"
Find out more about Kathy's organization: We Can
http://www.wecan.cc/
Posts
