Job - A Story of Unlikely JoyMfano

One morning, I stood at the stove flipping pancakes. I was about to call for Missy to come downstairs for breakfast when I heard her yelp. The next thing I knew, she was falling head over heels down our long flight of stairs. She slipped on the top tread while trying to navigate the steps wearing her feet-binding Snuggie® blanket. I ran to catch my baby girl, but before I could get to her, she hit the bottom landing with a sickening thud. My heart echoed a similar thud.  Somewhere in the back of my mind this indignant thought stubbornly lodged itself: “I can’t believe she’s overcome severe malnutrition, cholera, tuberculosis, and HIV only to be seriously injured because of that stupid blanket!”

I shucked her out of that dreadful tube-of-a-blanket and ran my hands over every inch of her little body feeling for broken bones as if trying to read braille from her beautiful, brown limbs. I didn’t realize there were tears running down my face until minutes later, when she asked, “Did I make you sad, Mama?” To which this foreign, shrill, put-upon-sounding voice tore from my lungs and bellowed, Why in the world did you try to walk downstairs in that silly blanket, Honey? You could’ve really hurt yourself! That scared me to death, Missy. Don’t ever wear that blanket when you’re going down stairs, Baby. Now give me that blanket right now because It. Is. Going. In. The. Trash!

At which point, my darling miracle of an adopted daughter began to sob again. Good night, I may as well have smacked her in the head for getting a concussion. 

When it comes to the waltz of human suffering—whether we’re engaged in the dance or simply on the sideline observing—most of us are less than graceful. Sometimes panicked mamas berate their post-tumble children. Sometimes dear friends ignore their lifelong besties because they don’t know how to respond after the other suffers physical abuse, which leads to a devastating divorce. Sometimes well-meaning people clumsily attempt to encourage grieving parents by musing out loud that God must’ve “needed another flower in His garden.”

It’s no wonder most people’s first choice regarding pain tends to be avoiding it altogether. According to Jesus, avoiding pain and hardship in this life is less likely than winning the Powerball®. Therefore, learning how to deal with pain and anguish is an absolute necessity.

To read more of Job, A Story of Unlikely Joy, visit LifeWay.com/Job. There you'll also find teaching videos and other resources from Lisa Harper.