It's For The Good

Last night I stayed at my sister's house, and we had a bit of a scare. My niece somehow got my brother-in-law's poison ivy spray. Being the curious two year old she is, she sprayed it, unfortunately she sprayed it right into her eyes. I felt so sorry for her. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm sure her poor little eyes burned something awful.
So my sister called the poison control center and asked what to do. They said she needed to wash out my niece's eyes for at least 10-15 minutes straight.
Now, I don't know if you've ever washed out a two year old's eyes, but let me tell you, it isn't easy to listen to or watch. I had to take my nephew and leave the room.
The thing is that my sister had to do that. She had to wash my niece's eyes out as much as it hurt her. Though my niece didn't understand, my sister was helping her, not hurting her.
I read a verse this morning that put me in mind to the same thing. The verse is Hebrews 12:11, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
See, sometimes when we do things to hurt ourselves, God has to chasten us. He has to turn us back around to His ways. He has to clean the bad things from our lives. He has to wash that dirt out of our eyes.
Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we don't understand. It's a painful thing to be chastened by God, but it is for our good. In the end, we have peace and are able to once again live in His righteousness.
I'm thankful I have a God who loves me enough to do what is good for me, rather than letting me go my own way and hurting myself far worse!

**Updated to add: my niece is fine now! Not half an hour later, she was jumping on my bed and laughing and declaring that she was taking over my bed. And she could see perfectly well, so don't worry!**