Suffering

 

Ella had a hard time last night.  

Understandably.

She had a probe threaded through her nose and down into her stomach which measured the acidity and level of her reflux over a 24 hr period.

It was taped to her cheek and neck and attached to a device that collected the data.

Unfortunately  when she swallowed,  her throat tried to propel the wire downward and it would pull on the tape.  Which hurt and was incredibly annoying.  

She also had to wake up every four hours for breathing treatments.

So needless to say it was a night long on complaints and tears and short on sleep at the hotel.  

Kyrie, her older sister, had driven over to help support and distract her and was sleeping next to her.

I got up the first several times and helped encourage her and get her supplies, but I was also tired.  It was hard to watch her hurting but it also was something that needed to be done to collect critical data for managing her plan.

At one point as she was crying in pain and frustration at the cord in her throat that clearly didn't belong there, I sat up and looked over to see Kyrie with her arm around her gently calming and comforting her.  As Ella leaned into her sister's arm I was overwhelmed with love.

Elder Keith R Edwards shared, "The great and exquisite suffering of the Savior was for us, to keep us from having to suffer as He suffered.  However, suffering is a part of life, and few will escape its grasp. Since it is something that each of us has gone through, is going through, or will go through, there is scriptural suggestion that we can learn spiritual lessons if we can approach suffering, sorrow, or grief with a focus on Christ."

There will be times when the suffering will not be removed.  The pain will be real.  The frustration at things not as they should be will feel unbearable.  We may well say, "I can't do this."

One way that I have learned to focus on Christ while suffering is to picture or feel him right beside me with his arm around me just like I saw Kyrie doing for her sister.  

Can you see him there? He's crying with you.  He is sending angels to uphold you.  He will be there, even if it takes us some time to sense and realize his presence.  

His promises are real and he is answering that maybe we can't do it alone, but He is there and with God nothing is impossible.  He will strengthen us and stand with us.  

And some day, we will throw our arms around him and know him more personally than we ever thought possible.  

Because he is the perfect brother and loves us dearly.