Migraines & The Cross

These last few days have been intense. 4 days of blinding headache, dizziness, and nausea (thank you for praying. My kids came in randomly to lay their hands in prayer over me- the BEST thing EVER). I lost track of time in the pain and anxiety that followed it. Then I remembered the cross. 

There’s something about the cross of Jesus; it is both soothing and excruciating. Every pain finds expression in it. Every soul who gazes finds comfort, not from pain, but in the midst of it. It is the image of God in agony. 

“What good is a God who will laugh with you but abandon you in suffering? No good! “

Laughing is my favorite; I love a good fall to the floor laughter. I’ll laugh at immature jokes at a drop. God laughs in me and through me, in and through you too. He suffers too; there’s comfort in that too. My life and yours is full of laughter and suffering. So, he suffers, that’s why he is our high priest – a priest who gets it. Hebrews 4:14-16  “What good is a God who will laugh with you then abandon you in suffering? No good! “

I saw this cross on a bathroom wall a few months ago on my retreat. I would have brought it home if I could have taken it! Something about it captivated my attention. I gazed at it for several hours during my stay. It was weird, the random things hammered into the wood. It was a game at first to figure out everything in it.  I was bored, no internet and no person around.  In a daze one evening, it clicked, “everything is under the cross of Jesus the Nazarene – the cow, the trees, the animals, the woman, the pain, the boy, the man, the heart EVERYTHING.” This pain is under the cross. Your pain is under the cross. The anxiety about the future – under the cross, the stress of voting right – under the cross. EVERYTHING measured and held under the CROSS. 

“EVERYTHING IS UNDER THE CROSS“

Whatever life is like for you – you are under the beautiful blessed cross.”  Don’t let your heart be anxious; you trust God don’t you? John 14:1 Shalom translation ??✝️

XO,

Shalom