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Only one person knows how to carry out perfect parenting.

A Christian friend with breast cancer once asked me, “Why is God making me suffer so much?”

We had several conversations, and then I asked her, “Have you asked Him?”

“Yes, but He doesn’t answer me.”

“Do you read the Bible every day and pray? Are you honest with your heavenly Father?”

“Not really,” she said sadly.

Over the years, many friends and acquaintances who battled serious illnesses have sought me out because of my experience with a rare autoimmune disease which nearly took my life. During those five long years of fighting my body—my T-cells were devouring my muscles—I had good and bad days.

On one dark day, my diatribe went something like this: “Lord, You say You love me, and You’re my Father. I’m a parent too, and I would never allow my children to be hurt, injured, disappointed, or fail at anything they do. I would pave a smooth road without bumps, potholes, or detours. After all, doesn’t true love protect the beloved?”

But the Lord tells us His thoughts and ways are not ours. He’s the perfect parent and knows precisely what we need. He never makes mistakes. Over time, the path of my suffering produced a level of fellowship with the Lord I had not known. And I am convinced of His constant love and care through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, despite my failings

As my friend reads and meditates on the Scriptures, she doesn’t receive clear answers to her whys. Why another surgery? Why chemo and radiation? Why did I get cancer in the first place?

But in seeking her heavenly Father’s thoughts and ways in His Word, she’s moving from despair to hope and from uncertainty to trust—even as she walks a rough road.

Are you facing a difficult problem? First, take it to your perfect Parent in prayer and wait for Him. Then, become acquainted with His thoughts and ways by reading the Bible, and your whys may shrink in size.

(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)

(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)