pain

I believe pain and suffering can never be completely answered by logic. Though there are some very good answers, these answers in the end do not lessen the pain in our heart. For me one of the most helpful thoughts is not the logical arguement, but the fact that God walks with me in my pain. This is well summed up in the famous poem that follows called "Footprints" by Mary Stevenson

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he waswalking along the beach with the Lord. Across thesky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, henoticed two sets of footprints in the sand: onebelonging to him, and the other to the Lord. Whenthe last scene of his life flashed before him, helooked back at the footprints in the sand. Henoticed that many times along the path of his lifethere was only one set of footprints. He also noticedthat it happened at the very lowest and saddesttimes in his life. This really bothered him and hequestioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said thatonce I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me allthe way. But I have noticed that during the mosttroublesome times in my life, there is only one setof footprints. I don't understand why when I neededyou most you would leave me." The Lord replied,"My son, My precious child, I love you and I wouldnever leave you. During your times of trial andsuffering, when you see only one set of footprints, itwas then that I Carried You."