When it became apparent Monday that Lauren wasn’t just suffering from allergies, my plans for our family Passion Week focus had to shift. Instead of baking bread together and kneading on the concept of Jesus as the Bread of Life, we watched a lot of movies and cuddled on the couch.

Last night as I was trying to cool Lauren down from her fever in a lukewarm bath, the kids and I talked about our Great Physician. Because that was a phrase Jackson was unfamiliar with, we called Jesus the Good Doctor.

As Jackson covered his eyes and pretended that Jesus healed him and he could see, or plugged his ears and then could suddenly hear, it struck me that our Good Doctor, who embodies all healing power, intentionally chose not to heal Himself and allow Himself to die in order to heal my heart and relationship with God.

After Jackson finished feeling his heartbeat with his hand, we prayed for Lauren.

“Jesus, would you be the Great Doctor and make Lauren be good?” Jackson asked. “Would you please help her fever go away? Amen.”

After baths for both kids, I had planned to do an art project with bandaids to help them process what we had just discussed, but instead we all crawled into my bed, snuggled together and sang their favorite songs like “Jesus loves me” and “Jesus loves the little children.”

After all, that message of Jesus’ love was what we all needed most.