"Empathy During Agony is a Portion of Divinity"
This is one of my all time favorite quotes from one of our church leaders. (By the way, this is Dan, Teresa's husband) Teresa gave me permission to post a couple of thoughts I have so I hope you don't mind terribly.
As I said, I love this quote. It always makes me think of the example of Jesus Christ when he was suffering on the cross. We cannot even imagine the suffering he experienced. Not only the physical torture of the Crucifixion, but he had, just prior to this time, experienced unspeakable pain in the garden when he took upon himself all the pain of our sins. It was at this point while on the cross that He showed us how it is possible to think of others even while going through agony. Instead of dwelling on His Pain and His suffering, He focused on His mother who wept below. Making certain his mother would have someone to watch over her, He was finally able to concern himself with the fact that he was experiencing thirst.
I share this because this quote also reminds me of Teresa. Two days before she was diagnosed with cancer, Teresa and her sweet friend Sandi Pittson, assembled some care packages designed to cheer up the sick and discouraged. Then they set out and delivered them to several ladies. All the while, she was in dire pain in her back that we would later discover was a tumor.
A couple of nights ago, after receiving more bad news about her having to receive additional radiation in her head, we knelt together in prayer. Teresa said the prayer and I kid you not, the majority of her prayer was asking Heavenly Father to bless a sister in our ward that was having surgery or others that might be having difficulties. I knelt next to her in amazement. I silently mouthed the quote "Empathy During Agony is a Portion of Divinty"
