Sunburn

After a year of saving money, I took my daughter on a vacation to California. It was one of the greatest times of my life because I was able to spend 12 days with my little girl. The time was filled with wonderful moments, but God also used a painful episode to teach me about His ways.

Fun times

I was careful to plan the details of our trip without scheduling things too tightly. We stayed with friends along the way to save money for fun places like Disneyland and Sea World. The trip was an opportunity to explore. We hiked, made new friends and visited interesting places. Our adventure in Mexico allowed us to enjoy foreign cuisine. For me, as a single mom, these activities are rare.

The last day

When the last day of our trip rolled around, we laid out the options of remaining unexplored activities and decided to go to the beach. There were so many beautiful beaches to choose from but only one that was perfect for us — the beach at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

We found our spot in the sand, dropped our belongings and quickly applied sunscreen. We enjoyed every activity the seashore had to offer. We built a sand castle, partially buried each other, chased one another up and down the beach and jumped the waves. It was a marvelous day, but I shortened our time in the sun so we would avoid heat sickness, exhaustion and sunburns.

After a quick ice cream and a couple of wrong turns, we were on our way to a hotel near the airport. We decided to change clothes for dinner, and it became painfully obvious that we were both sunburned. As I looked at my daughter's red shoulders, I wondered where I went wrong applying the sunscreen. Then I inspected my skin and was mortified. It wasn't just a little sunburn; it was bad. But the worst part of it was the polka dots that decorated my chest, shoulders and back. Who burns like that?

The Healer

In the days that followed, we began to recover. I soothed the blisters and coped with the peeling by repeatedly applying aloe vera. As I healed, I realized that my sunburn became a metaphor for how God works in our lives.

Isn't it amazing how we can go through life with such thick skin? Then one day we get burned. The resulting personal pain comes unexpectedly, during those times when we suffer loss, when our health is compromised or someone wrongs us. Oh, how it hurts. We cry, wonder and grieve about what happened. But then what?

Some of us ignore the pain and continue as though nothing happened. Some choose to wallow in misery day after day. Others put on the armor of God and seek help and direction. No matter what direction is chosen, they are all painful, but only one direction brings healing.

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Despite the temporary pain of our sunburns, my daughter and I had a marvelous vacation. I returned refreshed and better able to cope with the daily challenges of single parenting.

No matter what circumstances we face in our lives, God is with us. He doesn't promise that life will be easy or pain free — in fact, sometimes the heat of life gets pretty intense. God does promise to comfort us during any pain we experience and to apply His healing balm to our wounds. The amazing thing is that when He does, He gently peels away the dead skin layer by layer and lovingly restores us to wholeness in Him.