The Great Mediator

While we were on vacation J got really sick. I'll spare you most of the gory details, but I will tell you she was a sad sight! As a result of some of her symptoms, she had a terrible diaper rash. When I went to the doctor for that and all of her other ailments, the pediatrician (trying to appease all of my fears) prescribed her an antibiotic that would hopefully work for all of her symptoms. The antibiotic, while helpful for her ear infection, resulted in some undesirable side effects that made her diaper rash worse. I could tell she was in so much pain! At first, I thought I needed to accept our circumstances and suffer through the trial. It was unfortunate, but what else could I do? However, the pain on her face was just too much to take! I finally called the doctor to see what kind of changes to her diet I could make, or anything else I could do, to ease the side effects of the medicine. He informed me of several steps I could take, but also prescribed a less drastic antibiotic that would hopefully still be as effective.

As I was reading my scriptures today, I was overcome with emotion as I began to think of Christ's role as The Great Mediator. I believe, like many other Christian faiths, that when we leave this life there will be a judgement. We will be held responsible for what we have done, both good and bad. Our Heavenly Father is a just God, but He is also a merciful God. Christ, having endured all things and with his perfect understanding, will be able to advocate for us. No one but Christ is perfect, he understands all that I have been through and all that I will go through. He knows me better than anyone else and, because of that, will be able to mediate between the demands of justice and mercy.

Obviously, I would never want to compare myself to Christ. He is perfect and I am for from it. However, while in this life, one of my roles is to advocate for my children. I don't know if I ever truly knew what it meant to be an advocate for someone until today. Today, Christ's role as the mediator and advocate became so real.

J can't speak for herself. She doesn't understand all that is going on, just like most of us don't have a perfect knowledge of why certain events happen in this life. No one knows her like I do and no one has gone through these experiences with her like I have. I was blessed to have found a doctor where I never had to 'fight' for J, but I did have to speak up. I had to find the balance between accepting the situation we were in (justice) and searching for a better solution (mercy).

I hate when I try to write and the words I know and use can't fully describe the feelings in my heart.  That's how I feel with this post. Hopefully it is somewhat coherent and you can grasp even a glimpse of what I'm trying to convey. I'm so glad we have a savior who knows my heart and understands me in spite of my weaknesses.

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