Pain & Suffering

after at least six months of just plain BAD news, my family finally received some GREAT news about my mom's cancer. it actually shrunk! 25%, at that! thank God!!!

as i am so used to bad news at these doctor's appointments, i was especially delighted to hear such a positive report. it makes me think about an ongoing conversation my sister and i have been having about pain and suffering.

it's an interesting thought that we, as humans, believe that we are entitled to live without any pain or suffering. we think that modern medicine should solve all of life's problems and keep us from feeling even the smallest pains . . . to the lengths of more controversial medical ideas. (i'll leave those alone for now - i don't feel like rocking any boats tonight.)

i am learning many lessons watching my mom suffer through countless chemo, radiation, surgeries, scans, and waiting, waiting, waiting . . . she takes it like a champ, of course, and has even decided to go to college and obtain a degree (which she never got to do in her 20s). way to go, mom! one lesson i learned from her is that suffering is a privilege. if you think about it, we really deserve to suffer all day, everyday for the amount of sins we commit. instead, Jesus took care of that for us when He died for us on the cross. if we have the chance to suffer, we should look at it as a sort of suffering FOR and WITH Him . . . what an honor! what a different way to look at suffering; to be truly joyful in one's suffering, as james talks about.

although this may seem basic to some, it has truly rocked my world recently. truly delighting in suffering by doing it for Christ takes immense faith and perseverance. what a blessing to have someone so close to me to teach me such lessons through her unyielding faith and commitment to Christ.

(i think you should all be jealous - excluding katelin, of course - that's she not YOUR mom!) he, he . . .