If you read my last post, you have read about how I want to save my children from suffering. I don’t want them to suffer because of their faith. I don’t want them to suffer from mental illness. I don’t want the to suffer from protracted, long bouts of mean kids. I don’t want them to commit suicide (which a friend’s brother did).

Part of OCD treatment is accepting uncertainty. There is the chance that any and all of that may happen.

What has happened is realizing that Mary knew that her son was to atone for the sins of the world. She raised a child that she knew would suffer. God the father knew that His son would be brutally tortured, on top of mocked, and He created Him anyways.

What they did do is not leave Him. And what they did do is stay close to Him as He learned to suffer well.

If they were not denied the pain of watching a child suffer for his beliefs, why should I be spared? If they were not denied the pain of watching their son be scorned and beaten, I also may not. If Jesus may have also suffered mentally with discouragement, despair, and anxiety, why should my child be spared?

Rather than try to wish suffering out of his life, which is impossible, I want to help train my son to suffer well.

This means I need to learn to suffer well. This doesn’t mean I need to learn to suffer perfectly. It means I need to abide in God in my suffering. I need to lament honestly. I need to see the truth in my circumstances. I need to not give up even when I want to. I need to continue to seek counseling (guys, so helpful. Ugh. Cognitive behavioral therapy has rocked my world for the better in learning how to tolerate and process my emotions). I need to continue pursuing forgiveness (strongly recommend Lysa TerKeursts’ book Forgiving What You Can’t Forget). I can continue to pray friends into my kids’ lives, and keep praying it into my life, too.

God is worth it. Heaven is worth it. Peace, love, joy, kindness, self-control, patience, goodness and gentleness are worth it.

Amen.