can a baby suffer with jesus?

9/17/2019

Yesterday Valor made his 5th trip in seven months to the local pediatric emergency room. He will turn one in nine days on September 26. The visits are becoming more routine, like taking a family member who works out of town to the local airport.
            We have our familiar drop off spot in front of the hospital. Familiar prayers we say in the car. Familiar goodbyes to Valor and Brandi as they walk through the emergency room doors for the next 3-5 days. And the familiar ambulance ride Brandi and Valor take to Duke Children's Hospital 1.5 hours away.
            To Valor's chagrin needles have also become familiar. He shakes his head violently and screams anytime needles approach now. Between blood draws, IV's for antibiotics and blood transfusions, Valor has been stuck with more needles before age one than the combined 24 years of his older four siblings.
Watching Valor's violent reaction to needles, we wonder about the long term effects of trauma. Psychotherapist Edward Tick, who has counseled Vietnam veterans through PTSD for over 40 years, calls trauma a "soul wound." Christian inner healing minister Francis McNutt speaks similarly about trauma as a potentially unrecognized spiritual transition point in a person's life.
            "Suffering can make you bitter or better" is trite. But the axiom also hints at the spiritual battle and life-shaping stakes Tick and McNutt describe more eloquently.
            As a Christian, I learned to receive unexpected suffering as a painful but also purposeful and divine gateway to resurrection. 2 Corinthians 4:10 is a classic summary, "We always carry in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body."
            After trying many unfruitful approaches to suffering--denial, self-pity, anger, escape, workaholism--suffering with Jesus, so I could rise with Jesus was a welcome and life-giving alternative. It also had the benefit of being divinely and historically true. My suffering had dignity. It had purpose and fellowship. I was being gathered up into Jesus' suffering, so I could also be gathered up into Jesus' resurrection.
            What about young children? Can they have fellowship with Jesus without reading, speaking or apparent understanding? John the Baptist lept for joy while still in his mother Elizabeth's womb at hearing the voice of Jesus' mother Mary (Luke 1:41). Abraham's child Isaac had fellowship with Jesus across the millennia when Abraham "received Isaac back from death" (Hebrews 11:19) following God's test-commandment for Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mt. Moriah.
            Which brings me to my pressing question. "Can babies suffer with Jesus?" Can Valor suffer with Jesus? Can his soul find fellowship, comfort and even resurrection with Jesus, rather than trauma-induced anger, confusion, bitterness and despair. I hope so.

God's Hope & Love, Elijah & Brandi Lovejoy

7 Comments

Meet the Authors: Elijah & Brandi Lovejoy

On March 15, 2019 nine days before his 6 month birthday, our son, Valor Emmanuel Lovejoy, entered Duke Children's Hospital for the second time with a recent fever, low white and red blood cell counts and a below 1% weight chart gain. Doctors suspect Valor has Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, a disease that effects bone marrow health, pancreatic function and sometimes skeletal structure, among other symptoms. You can learn more about SDS here: www.shwachman-diamond.org. I (Elijah) am a pastor, and I (Brandi) am a volunteer Children's Ministry Director and home school mom to our five children.
These Chronicles are written from a Christian perspective in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." We believe the Lord does his best and deepest work through profound patterns of death and resurrection, particularly as pioneered and embodied in Jesus Christ's own death and resurrection. Through faith and ongoing participation in Jesus' death and resurrection, we offer these Valor Chronicles in hope that others will find comfort, hope, peace and resurrection life with us in Jesus.

Rebecca Stone

9/17/2019 09:00:20 pm

My prayers are with you daily! Love, Rebecca

JImmy Renslow

9/18/2019 04:42:02 am

What a thoughtful post. I treasure these thoughts as it is something I have never really considered. Thank you for sharing them. We have a lot of inner wounds with our two youngest as well and pray that these "soul wounds" are completely healed. I have seen how these infant wounds can define people without their understanding. They live out of these wounds unknowingly. This is all a mystery to me, but I am thankful for people like you mentioned and Leigh Ann Payne's ministry dealing with this. Love, prayers, and hope to you all. Shalom.

Brandi Lovejoy

9/18/2019 02:58:18 pm

Thanks, Jimmy. I’ve really been burdened to pray for you and your family when we receive your updates. I just think about how much of my childhood is with me everyday—memories, clear visual memories, attitude toward so many things in life, some of my constant sin struggles partly from being raised to think some of those things are normal, the ways Elijah and I approach life and parenting that are directly influenced by how we we’re raised, etc.—can’t imagine what a person carries with them when their childhood involves trauma. But the good news is that it is those struggles, those places of death and pain that God wants to heal. If we were already whole, we would have no need for Him. There’s so much Valor will learn, if his heart is open to receiving, from the trials he will face. He will have the opportunity to mature in his faith in a way that can take a lifetime for some. What an honor it is that God has chosen us (and God has chosen you and Gayla with your children) to help lead them to Him. Miss you guys!

Jennifer Pedroza

9/18/2019 03:06:18 pm

I always gain so much from reading the Valor Chronicles. So as hard as this is for Valor and your family, rest assured that your sharing of your thoughts and experiences is being used by God. Peace and healing to yo out all!

shirley

9/18/2019 04:58:14 pm

amazingly thought-provoking.
i have just been reading that God could have raised Jesus from the dead perfectly physically....and yet....the scars are there as evidence...of suffering.
yes, i think there is a verse, if we suffer with Christ, we will reign with Christ....

praying for valor in "this" trauma, may Jesus walk with him.

Leah Wall

9/19/2019 02:25:42 pm

I love this thought. I'm sorry you have to ponder it.

Kerah link

9/19/2019 04:22:23 pm

Your questions are so thoughtful, and as a fellow parent, I am trying to think through each of them. Maybe if we slightly reverse the questions, there is reassurance:

“Can babies suffer with Jesus?”
Can Jesus help babies through their suffering?

“Can Valor suffer with Jesus?”
Can Jesus be with Valor as he suffers?

“Can his soul find fellowship, comfort, and even resurrection with Jesus, rather than trauma-induced anger, confusion, bitterness, and despair?”
Can Jesus bring fellowship, comfort, and even resurrection to Valor, rather than trauma-induced anger, confusion, bitterness, and despair?

We don’t know what that sweet little fellow is capable of. We do have an inkling of what our mighty, fierce, loving, sovereign Lord is cable of: He is able. He is a very present help in trouble, no matter how little Valor is. The Comforter and Prince of Peace is able to comfort his soul. (What can stand against Him?) Our Shepherd restores souls. No pain, no trauma, can separate Valor from Jesus’ love, mercy, and comfort. He makes beauty from ashes. He loves, loves, loves Valor, and He is surely with him in a way that we can’t comprehend, but we can trust His love and ability.

With love,
Kerah

The Valor Chronicles

can a baby suffer with jesus?

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Meet the Authors: Elijah & Brandi Lovejoy

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