I have found God on mountaintops and in produce, but not long ago I had an unexpected encounter of God: amidst the pains and fears of imminent food poisoning.
I was in Florida for a conference for work and one night I was in bed having just turned off the light to go to sleep when I began to notice a slight discomfort in my stomach. The minor ache slowly increased. I began rubbing my stomach but it got worse and worse. I switched on the light to have a drink of water. Nothing would help the pain go away. It got to the point where I felt throwing up is the next thing to come. What had I eaten? I had gotten food poisoning a few years ago so these feelings were familiar. Something wasn’t right. But I couldn’t throw up.
Feeling my feelings
I lay in my bed and closed my eyes. Something caused me to picture Jesus on the cross. There he hung looking at me with compassion. And then, he spoke and told me that he wanted to absorb my pain. As I lay there I imagined this pain almost visibly come out of me and be absorbed by Jesus. Slowly my intense pain reduced and after a few minutes, disappeared completely.
Someone once said that the best way to understand what Christ did on the cross was absorb our sin. In this case he absorbed my pain. Jesus feels our feelings. It’s a consolation to accept this, that our God who created human beings knows the pain human beings can suffer, their heartache—even their joys and triumphs.
| Try this: As a prayer at the end of the day just sit and let God feel all things you’ve felt today. How? Use your imagination and see yourself from God’s perspective as God feels and understands all that you feel. |
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Music by Kevin MacLeod
