Suffering

When I think about so much suffering in life - all the pain that can be associated with life, such as division in relationships or death, I sometimes think of Jesus and how much suffering He went through in His life here on earth. I think of how He is a perfect human being and therefore handles everything correctly, yet had to take the pain and suffering of human/earthly life. How did Jesus do it? How did He handle it all without letting it totally mess with His mind, heart and body? The natural example is thinking of the events of His betrayal, tortuous beating and death, and being separated from God in those moments. There cannot be anything more painful than all of that. Yet, somehow He just did it. And, not only that, but He was able to consider others during the process (such as when He asked John to look after His mother Mary, and asking God for the forgiveness of those who did not understand that they were doing something wrong).
But, there are other examples in Jesus' life that I can remember. Such as when John the Baptist died. John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. He was also Jesus' cousin and the one that paved the way for Jesus' arrival to ministry. The Bible says that when Jesus heard of John the Baptist's death that He went away alone for a while, on a boat. I can only imagine that He must have been hurting a lot, and needed this time spent alone with Father God to pray and meditate. I know in my experience that this helps to gather oneself together and sort of rejuvenate, and gives a sense of peace and comfort.
I always remember a sermon on TV that I once heard in which a woman speaker spoke of this story. She said that Jesus just had to keep looking forward, not look back. So, when the things of life bring us down that we too need to keep looking forward to the big picture and not get bogged down in depression or whatever life can bring us down with. Jesus had his natural time of mourning, but kept His eyes fixated on the big picture. Jesus was going to make everything right by doing what He was meant to do, and one day everything will be the way it's supposed to be.
This is what keeps me going. When I think about the big picture of it all, the things of this life that really have a way of bringing me down, suddenly don't matter as much. I look to Jesus as my Savior and best friend. He has overcome all of this and someday everything will be made right.