The call came from New Hanover Hospital’s emergency room after the crisis with my three-year-old granddaughter had past. “Mom, Katelyn’s okay, but I just spent four hours in the ER with her,” my daughter said on the other end of the phone line. “It was just awful, Mom. We were shopping and Katelyn was sitting in the cart with her baby dolls and the next thing I knew she attempted to climb out of the cart and fell face first to the floor.” I was told that Katelyn’s little head had hit the concrete floor with a sickening thud. “I was so scared, Mom. Katelyn’s head was bruised and bleeding. We rushed her to the hospital and I cried all the way there. I wanted to take her place, Mom.”

As a parent, I know that feeling well. My heart would break as growing up, my children experienced illness, injury and heartache. I would have given anything to take their place.

And God our Father feels the same way about us, His children. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that our sins have separated us from God. However, God loves us so much that He sent His perfect, sinless Son, Jesus, so that our sins might be forgiven and no longer separate us from Him. Jesus left Heaven and came to earth. On Calvary’s Hill, He suffered as He hung on the cross. The suffering should have been ours. He died on the cross and paid the price for our sins – a price that was ours to pay. Jesus took our place.