For eight months my baby girl ("M") was blessed with health. The only trips we took to the doctor were for her well-baby checkups and I was so grateful, I felt so blessed for such a healthy baby. Then April hit.
This month, M has suffered through three days of fever followed by cutting two teeth, and then this past weekend she came down with a stomach virus that caused violent vomiting and diarrhea. She's still getting over it, and working her way slowly back to her normal diet.
As a first-time mom, every experience is new and I felt something quite striking with this stomach virus.
When M would vomit, I wished desperately that I could do it for her. That doesn't even sound rational writing it down! I hate to puke, doesn't everyone despise the feeling, the act and the follow up? And yet I would have immediately taken the hit for her, if it had been possible.
I'd heard parents express this type of sentiment before, and it became real when I watched M suffer, but it took on new meaning when I thought about Jesus' sacrifice for me.
God loves me so much that he was willing to send Jesus to suffer for my sins.
{Insert moment of prayer and thanksgiving here.}
His love for me is greater even then my love for M! Isn't that amazing?!
Even in the moments leading to his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for me! John 17:1–5 says: "After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you ave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.'"
God knew that I was a sinner, He knew that I would suffer for my sins for eternity and to save me from that, He sent Jesus. I'm so thankful that He has the power and authority on earth to do that! I can only wish that I could take M's pain, but Jesus really did take mine. He suffered so immensely that night that it paid for the sins of all of us.
I pray that my moment of revelation makes Jesus' sacrifice all that more real for you. In our lives, it's so easy to forget about what Jesus's time on earth was about; it's quite easy to relegate Him to the background and bring it up on Easter Sunday.
Jesus didn't want to suffer so terribly {Luke 22:42} but He did because it was the will of His Father. He suffered, and then He rose again {Luke 24} and now I can look forward to living eternity in heaven with Him.
Thank you Jesus!
I know that there is more "sick" in M's future, it's inevitable. But when I pray for her health and during any illness, I'm going to thank Jesus for His ultimate act in taking away the sickness of my sin on the cross!
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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