She is sick

“It really really really hurts, mom. You cannot believe how much it hurts! Why does God create this sickness, mom?”

Well, part of it was exaggeration for sure. You know how little girls can be talented drama queens. But I knew she had actual pain in her stomach due to gas: she lied in bed for two hours, which is close to a miracle for her!

It was amazing though how she immediately brought God into this. We keep talking about how God created EVERYTHING.

Well, “everything” includes the pain and the sickness, too…

We suddenly realized that this two-hour episode was an excellent educational opportunity for the entire family.  We realized that even though we think ‘we’ are raising our children, we are in fact absolutely powerless in the face of, well, everything. No matter how much my heart tore as she was lying there in pain, there was pretty much nothing I could do. It was all in His hands. I prayed by words; I prayed by putting a warm towel around her belly; I prayed by massaging her tommy… The healing could only come from Him. It was a reality check for my ego.

As for her, learning that indeed it is God who creates the sickness as well as health is important. It is not a fairy tale. But she also learned why God creates sickness. God is the All-Compassionate and the All-Wise when He creates health AND when He creates sickness.

I explained to her: “Well honey, God gives you this pain right now so that you learn not to run around with wet clothes. Sometimes we get sick because we do wrong things. And God is Compassionate. He wants to learn so that we do not hurt ourself again.”

I did not give her this example, it would have been too gruesome for her but: if we did not feel pain when we put our hand in fire, that would NOT have been compassionate. It is out of His Compassion that He gives us pain as a symptom to make us realize that what we do is wrong/hurtful to our well-being.

I also told her: “Are you happy when you do not have stomach ache? Yes. Well, God also gives you this sickness now so that you realize that He is the one who gives you health/heals you, so you love Him and thank Him more…”

It was amazing to see how a 4 year old, in the middle of serious pain, was able to connect with God through this experience. The thing is she was never bitter about God because He is creating the pain! She was curious to know why.

And when a reasonable answer was given, her heart and mind were satisfied and her relationship with God was strengthened through a ‘seemingly’ negative experience.