Thoughtful Thursday -- Sigh...

"But You, O Lord, are a shield around me, my GLORY, the one who lifts my head high."  Psalm 3:3

This is Glory, and her mom, Kerry.  I've written about Glory before.  She's a little over a year old, and has spent most of her life in the cardiovascular intensive care unit.  She was born with inadequate pulmonary arteries, and she has undergone multiple surgeries in an attempt to get them to grow.  Today she underwent a full day of surgery to replace two shunts in her heart in an attempt to increase the blood flow to these arteries.  The surgery has finally ended for today, but her oxygen saturation remains low, and even as I write this, her parents are meeting with the surgeon to find out what their next step will be.  My heart is aching for this mom and dad as they have watched their sweet little one go through so much in her young life.

Sigh....

Just this week, I heard about yet another precious little girl here in Arkansas who lost her battle with cancer.  As a matter of fact, the other day I sat down and started to make a list of the children I know by name who are either battling cancer right now, or who have gone to Heaven over the last 2 1/2 years due to cancer.  The list became so long, I finally just had to stop.

Sigh...

Every day as I go to work as a speech pathologist/reading therapist, I encounter children who break my heart.  They come to school dirty, wearing clothes that are several sizes too small or too big, and so many are clearly starving for affection that they are not receiving at home.

Sigh...

You know, after awhile this kind of stuff can really get you down.  You begin to wonder where God is when children suffer.

So I was really thankful for the reminder I got this week as I prepared for last night's "Patriarchs" Bible study.  Beth Moore closed the video with this statement:  "Our comfort can be this:  What is not sorted out here and now is sorted out then and there." 

I don't know about you, but that really is a comfort to me.  God is not asleep, He is not indifferent, He is not unloving.  He is on His throne, He doesn't miss a thing, and He will make it all right in the end.  And for that, I am thankful.