photo #412198

God hasn't created us to live sad, miserable, broken lives. He has created us for abundant life in Him. While our engagement in caring for the poor might cause our world to be shaken up and our hearts to ache and be burdened - there is tremendous joy in this journey of loving others. When we look at Jesus' life, we see him weeping over the pain of others and literally carrying the weight of the world's sin on his shoulders. But he also got to see the lame walk, the the blind see, the sick healed. These things must have filled Jesus with pleasure. You don't watch someone who has never even stood up, pick up their mat and run and leap for joy without feeling an incredible sense of delight! And so, we hold both the pain of those who suffer and the joy of seeing lives transformed in both hands. If we never knew pain, we would never know joy.