He Knows How You Feel

I've talked to some Mom friends of mine, older and younger, with babies and grown children, who have been discouraged lately.  About the choices their children are making or have made or the attitudes they display or the silence that screams at them.

Beth Moore, a favorite author and speaker of mine encouraged me in my young parenting by saying this:

God knows the intense pain of intense love.  If you are a parent, you have already experienced fear, vulnerability, and pain.  And the Father hasn't missed one second of your parenthood.  If you have a child who is rejected by his peers, God knows how you feel. If you have a child who is not beautiful to look upon, He knows how you feel (see Isa. 53). If you have a child who has been betrayed by her friends, He knows how you feel.  If you have a child who has begged you to "fix" something you could not fix, He knows how you feel.  If you have a child who is suffering, He knows how you feel. If you have a child who is dying, He knows how you feel. If you have buried a child, He knows how you feel.  He's been there, too. However, there is one big difference. He could have changed every bit of it. But He didn't. For you and me.

God loved no mother on earth more than the one He chose for His Son.  Yet she was unable to hold Him in her grasp for as long as she wished.  You who are richly loved, do not give up. (from Living Beyond Yourself, a study of the fruit of the Spirit.)

Someone point me back this way when I'm challenged in parenting!