My beautiful Briley is 14. She is such a precious jewel in her Momma’s crown…and I wear the crown of motherhood proudly! I love being a mom! She is strong and gorgeous. She has her Mom’s whit and spunk and she has her Daddy’s fierce loyalty. She gets her looks from Heaven! I love my girl and I know God is using her life and will continue to do so.
Today she woke up with a very red, angry and swollen middle finger. The cuticle around her fingernail was yellow and split. As I held her finger in my hand, I could feel her pulse throbbing in the end of her finger. It was very fevered. My child’s finger had a problem! It was obvious there was a deeper problem going on inside. She told me that her finger had been bothering her for a few days, but nothing like today. It was hurting into her arm if you barely even touched it.
We tried putting something on it yesterday and that did nothing for it. She would soak it in hot water and that would ease the pain for awhile. As it became angrier, I knew what I had to do. She got a needle and match. We sterilized the needle and she laid her hand in my lap and I began the horrible parent job of trying to open up a pathway for the infection to escape.
It was not pretty. It was excruciating for Briley. She was trying so hard to be brave but it was very painful. If you are a parent, you understand how heart wrenching it is to do something painful to your child for a greater good. I tried to console her with the words that if we could relieve the pressure it would feel so much better. She believed my words but that did not help her pain.
Then it started coming. The hole was opened just enough and the pus began to flow out. No wonder she was miserable! Her finger was full of infection! I continued to massage and squeeze and it continued to pour out. We would stop and let her soak her finger and catch her breath, and then we would drill another hole and more nastiness would come out.
As I sat there with my girl, hurting inside for what she was going through, knowing it would help her but that I was the one hurting her, and trying to help her through her pain, I thought of Jesus.
I thought of how He allows trials and suffering in our lives. He knows that as He works in our lives it reveals the horrible puss that consumes us inside. There is nothing quicker than a trial to reveal what kind of Christian you are! As things don’t go our way, we see ourselves for what we truly are….nasty humans! But, when God works in our lives, He uses those times of trials and suffering to be the needle that opens up the hole so the nastiness can flow out. When that happens, we are on a journey to a spiritually healthy place.
I may still have to take my Briley to a doctor tomorrow for a round of antibiotics. We will see how it looks in the morning. She already told me a little while ago how much better it feels! Today I hurt my daughter, but tonight she is glad.
There is a lesson there too. Whatever you are going through in your life, allow The Lord to get the puss out. You will feel much better!
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