Fellowshiping through suffering

As Shyloh sat with her head by her kittens little body crying on Monday night she said, "why would God give me another kitten to just have this one die too?" My heart is sad over the loss of the kitten, as I fell in love with it too, but any parent can understand when I say my heart was truly breaking for my little girl. As a parent we want to make everything okay and protect them from getting hurt. As I prayed for her that night and this morning I was reminded of something a friend said to me about being "acquainted" with suffering, because it brings us closer to our Lord. Our children usually don't have the experiences of suffering, but maybe this little kitten was put in Shyloh's life to pull her closer to Him, so He could comfort her and love her like no one else can. I Peter 4:13 speaks of rejoicing in our sufferings, because that is when HIS glory is revealed. I pray that for Shyloh today. That through this time of pain for her, HIS glory will be revealed in her heart and life. I know many people will say,"it was only a kitty", but I believe He can and will use anything to reveal Himself to us. When you're only 16 and life is full of fun and ease, maybe a kitty is just the way He will choose to show her His glory? For her this is a very big deal. As parents we do our best to keep our children from experiencing pain and suffering, but this really has me thinking. I don't ever want to block my children from experiencing fellowship with the Lord, even if that is through pain. That is hard to say and more hard to step out of the way and let the Lord have His way with them, but I know that He is the perfect parent and loves them so much more than I ever could. He knows what He is doing with Shyloh and He knows what He is going to teach her through this. I am just going to continue praying for her and pointing her to the ONE true comforter. I pray that I can and will always step out of the way when the Lord wants to do something in my children's lives. It is hard to "let go and let God", but that is always the best. He is refining Shyloh and going to show Himself to her again, this time it may be through pain. His mercies are new every morning! He will take away her sadness and replace it with rejoicing when this is through. I am telling myself this just as much as I will be reminding her, because there is nothing harder than watching your child deal with pain, whether in their hearts or in their bodies.
Phl 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.