A natural human response to physical pain is to want to make it stop. Emotional pain is no different. I have ways of coping, the main strategies are finding Scripture and distraction. Some pain doesn’t ever go away, it just heals. And it is better left in the past.
Today, as I fast and realize I committed to fasting with liquids for two weeks and realized the only liquid food I have on hand is applesauce, I feel the pain of hunger. I want to make it go away, but then I prove myself a fraud. My Word is my Word and so I must keep it. The only thing left to do is deal/cope with the pain. This is when fasting leads me closer to God. The feeling of hunger prompts me to pray, as I feel the pain of hunger. I want to suffer alongside those who are suffering. I think it gets God’s attention. I certainly need to feel like I am doing something to help all those literally dying, suffering, laying their lives down, serving.
I want to shield my children a little bit from all the sadness and suffering. I tell them generally what is happening and what God can do about it and what we should do. We are praying hard and often and will continue to be prayer warriors during this time. Hunkering down, serving my neighbors and my children and praying earnestly for everyone else. May God be with you all.
Walking in Faith 