Suffering is relative

Relatively painful! Yesterday, I was encouraged to be exactly where I am, by a divine appointment. After having spent a week relaxing with friends by the beach and meeting GREAT families from around the world, I wasn't sure what my purpose would look like for the next 10 months. Yet, in the past month and a half, I have apparently made some real friendships. I walked onto campus, and before I knew it, Elle* and I were setting up an appointment to talk about some real issues. Some things aren't different around the globe. A dad who has an affair, still greatly affects his children. They are deeply grieved, hurt, disappointed and feel as if the perfect world they knew has just collapsed. What is right? What is true? Is this what it's supposed to be like? Doesn't he love us? Did we disappoint him? At age 23, it doesn't seem to lessen the pain of the once, solid relationship, which his three beautiful daughters saw as sacred and protected. Not that my own sufferings compare. But to be able to simply be available - it's as if something is right. I could hardly ask the right questions or say the right things. But it was a good reminder that there are people that connect to ME, and I simply have to be available for those encounters.