I am having trouble sleeping tonight. I have a headache, paired with anxiety over everything I need to accomplish within the next two weeks. Everytime I lay down, my head just pounds harder. I rarely have headaches, but when I do, I try to thank God for them. Strange, huh? Well, let me tell you why. I have a friend at church who has terrible headaches, and she and her husband just had a baby a few months ago (after many years of trying to conceive). Their baby has had some health problems, but she is just wonderful and so beautiful. My friend has so much going on in her life that I often pray that God will just let me bear some of her headaches so that she doesn’t have to, and I told Him that I will thank Him for each headache that I have, even if it means that I can not sleep.
Well, in my sleepless state, I have been feeling the urge to go and lay with Kennedy. After about an hour of having these urges, I finally went and lay with her in her bed for a little while. I lay in there, telling her how wonderful, brilliant, perfect, sweet, and beautiful she is. I told her that I am the fortunate one because I get to be her Mommy; what a blessing she is to our lives! Of course she was asleep, but I’m hoping that my words sink into her dreams. I also sang her the Love you Forever song.
As I lay in there and marveled over her perfection and my love for her, I began to wonder how God could do it. How could He send his perfect Son to Earth to be hated by so many? How could He sacrifice His Son for us? I am fairly certain that I could not sacrifice Kennedy or Case for a bunch of people who hated them and who would stomp all over their names in the years to come. I could not watch my children be beaten, hung on a cross, and further tortured. But God could—because He loves us that much. The pain and agony He must have been in during those moments was surely unbearable, but God is so mighty. He knew that the sacrifice of His little lamb was needed for a new covenant, and so he lovingly gave His only begotten Son. How powerful is that? We often say at church that even if I or you or whoever had been the only person on Earth, Jesus still would have given His life on the cross, even for a single person. Would you give your life for someone else? You probably would give your life for your spouse, your children, or another loved one. But would you give your life for someone who hated you, stoned you, and taunted you? No, we could probably not sacrifice ourselves or our children in such a way, but I am so thankful that God could. Without His sacrifice we could not have a chance for Eternity. We could not be washed by the blood of Jesus. We could not know His perfect ways. We could not have the hope of going to Heaven and seeing the faces of Jesus, God, and our loved ones. I am so thankful that I am blessed to be saved by God’s grace and love. God’s love for us is like no other love, and I am Eternally grateful for it!
I am sure that I did not correctly express the emotions of my heart and mind in words, but I at least tried. Perhaps now, after getting this out to you all, my five followers (though I am sure there are more), I can go and sleep. Case will, after all, be awake and in need of feeding in just a few hours.
Great post - well said! :)
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