We have known and have believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. 1 John 4:16

I have a friend whose daughter recently had surgery. Doctors promised that after the surgery, she would be “Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” Maybe that’s not exactly what they said, but they did make grand promises and painted a picture of an outcome that would make the pain and physical therapy seem trivial. Those promises have proven to be as empty as Superman’s pod. The doctors are baffled at some of the things that have happened and have expressed their confusion during many consults and conversations.   But, no matter the variety of comments made during the various consults, each doctor always ended with “It will get better.” That is supposed to be encouraging, but better than it is now is still worse than it was! Her parents are strong believers in the Lord, but their spirits are dragging from seeing their child suffer. My friend is wiping her child’s tears as exercising therapy becomes excruciating torture, is cheering her child on as walking the steps feels more like climbing the mountain, facing each new day with a big smile while silently crying in her bedroom every night. Crying into her pillow and crying out to God. Someone once said, “The hardest part of being a parent is that you can’t stop the world from hurting your child. You can only be there to ease the pain.” But, she can’t ease the pain; she can only watch the pain. Watch and wonder and worry . John MacDuff reminds us that we need to “Trust God where you cannot see Him. Do not try to penetrate the cloud He brings over you; rather look to the bow that is on it. The mystery is God’s; the promise is yours.” My friend knows that this is just a season of their lives, a difficult and discouraging season but just a season. There are times when the dark night of discouragement tries to block the light of God’s promises. There are times when she feels the night will never end and begins to doubt the dawning of a better day. There are times when she feels alone, even as she clings to Jesus’ promise that He is always with us. There are times when we all have emotions that spin and tumble much like a child’s toy, but no matter what our emotions are telling us, Jesus tells us that He has control over the storm (Mark 4:37-40). As moms we worry about our children. We suffer when they are in pain. We smile so they will be encouraged and sob because we are so discouraged. We cry out “Lord, don’t You care?” Jesus says to us as He said to the storm in verse 39, “be still.” Sometimes we beg God not to be silent, but maybe He is silent so that we will be too. Like the disciples, we get scared and we want God to make the scary part go away. But, while we are busy being frantic and scared, He just wants us to be faithful and still. He wants us to feel His presence and know that His presence is enough. My friend is very strong – strong in her faith, strong in her parenting, and strong in her body and spirit. Lord, I ask You today to help her be strong in the knowledge that You are always with her.