Yesterday, Jonathan took care of Hadassah. She caught a sinus bug that both Jonathan and I have had, and this is the sickest she has ever been. All she wants to do is cuddle, and whimper as she tries to breathe through her nose but she can't because it's too snotty, and furiously wipe her face with tissues, and watch movies. I never knew before how hard it is as a parent to see our children suffer. I think God is really teaching me through this past week His own heart. 

It's so different when Hadassah is feeling well. She's stubborn and determined and fiercely opinionated. Sometimes she asks for things she needs, and of course we are quick to give them to her, but other times she asks for things she doesn't need (like when she wants to play with the kitchen knives, or she wants to put her stuffed penguin in the hot oven, or she wants to use the nail gun like daddy does), and we have to tell her "no."

But those times when she is sick, and I look into her deep-set, watery eyes, and she asks for something... it is everything in my soul to want to give it to her, whatever it is, to help ease her suffering even in just a small way. If If this is true of myself, how much more true is it for our Heavenly Father? I can't imagine what He goes through as history plays out and He anticipates the redemption of His creation. He longs for the great and mighty day on which He can take away our pain, banish suffering, repair what has been broken, and make us like new. All of creation aches and rumbles in anticipation with Him.

Jonathan is doing so much more than simply caring for Hadassah's physical needs during this time. He is showing her our Father's heart - to not only sustain us, but also restore us; to not only see sickness wiped away, but also to be present with us during our suffering; to ease our pain, and to love on us.

Shabbat shalom, friends. May we all find both restoration and redemption at our Father's hand!