Most definitely I don’t like it! And what is it? It is pain! I have spent the last few days, several weeks, having more pain than I thought I needed. It has kept me from doing activities that I wanted to be doing, it has kept me from church, it has made me go back to wheelchairs and walkers. It has made me go to doctors. It has made me search for reasons for my pain. I have been the recipient of many recommendations on what I should do for my pain. The pain was in my knee and as soon as I had a bit of relief from that pain, then an even worse pain started in my upper hip! I have tried lotions and potions. I have tried chiropractic treatments. I have used pain pills. At times the pain has been so bad that I had to ask for help to move my leg in order to go up the stairs to go to bed. We have a stairway that goes around the corner before the straight flight up. While it might seem that those 3 corner steps shouldn’t be a problem, they really are. Getting help for those 3 pie-steps was important to be able to go up the straight flight. There was no way that the pain in my hip would let me lift my leg and foot at that angle. I have been told to see a surgeon, get a massage, have another series of visits to a physical therapist, try a different chiropractor…..there seems to be lots of opinions of what I should do.
What I was not told and what I sort of neglected to think about—because about all I could think of was the pain and how I was going to survive the pain—was to bring God into the pain I was having. The pain was so bad that it consumed my thoughts. It was very hard to think clearly. Trying to think about household tasks became extra difficult. Surviving pain should require anchoring your heart in God, remembering that while pain is real, it is still only temporary and can serve a purpose in building endurance and character. Instead of being crushed by the pain, try to find strength in God’s promise to never leave you, using this time of pain to deepen trust in His care. Pain is Not Pointless. Many stories tell that God often uses seasons of suffering as a primary tool to help us reach spiritual maturity and character refinement. What feels like a “dark valley” is often the training ground for future strength and compassion for others.
I have not had a good explanation for my knee pain even after X-rays. And no reason for the hip pain that has been so bad. True, I haven’t seen a surgeon yet, but I know I haven’t fallen. The only thing different was using a treadmill for a few minutes for each period of pain. While we rarely get an immediate “why” for pain, we are always promised an “I am with you”. Jesus, as the “suffering Savior,” understands my physical and emotional agony because He bore it Himself during the day and night of His crucifixion. Genuine trust in God being there starts when you reach the end of your own strength. Surrendering the “heaviness” of the pain to God allows His grace to become your sufficient daily strength to endure and move forward. If I have the right attitude, I can find strength in my weakness. My pain and suffering are nothing compared to the suffering of Jesus!
You are never alone in your suffering. God is with you, providing comfort and strength when you feel brokenhearted. But too often I, and maybe you, forget that we aren’t alone. Suffering is not a wasted experience; it can produce perseverance, character, and hopefully, hope. It can transform you into a new creation by God’s power.
While my pain seems constant and never ending, I need to concentrate on the momentary brief nature of my pain compared to eternity and to what Jesus endured for me. Remember to shift our eyes and see to Heaven, where all pain will end.
Lord, thank you that I am not alone in my pain. When I am overwhelmed, give me the strength to endure and the faith to believe that You are using this for my good. Be my hiding place today.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8a (ESV) In recent days and weeks the pain I have been experiencing seemed like it was going to break me. The pain would hit with such sudden and sharp force that it felt like it cut through skin and bone. Some days it left me wondering if I’d ever be able to function like a normal person again. Some days I wanted to think that I didn’t want to go on, though I knew better. There are too many that I love to want to make that happen. Through those days of pain, and still now, God might be trying to remind me that my pain itself is not my enemy. Pain is what lets me know that sin and the devil and my broken world exist. Pain is the reminder that the real enemy is trying to take me out and bring me down by keeping me stuck in broken places with pain. From God’s perspective, pain can be the gift that should make me fight with fierce determination for the solutions to the pain and also know there’s healing on the other side of all the pain when the solution is found. And in between the pain and pain relief? It is a desperate place where we aren’t quite on the other side of it all and our heart still feels quite raw from the pain. I can let the pain be an invitation for God to move in and replace faltering strength with His power. I need to remember to invite God into my pain to help me survive the desperate in-between times. The only other choice is to run (well, I can’t run!) from the pain by using some method of numbing. But numbing the pain—with food, achievements, drugs, or distracting scrolling on social media—never goes to the source of the real issue to make me pain free and hopefully healthier. It only silences my almost silently screaming need for help. I can try to get freedom from the pain when, in reality, what numbs can also imprison. If we avoid the hurt, the hurt creates emptiness in us. It slowly kills the potential for our hearts to fully feel, fully connect, fully love again. It even steals the best in our relationship with God. Pain is the feeling that indicates a change is needed. There’s a weakness where new strength needs to enter. And a need to choose to pursue long-term strength rather than temporary relief. So how do we get this new strength? When my back is screaming for some relief, how do I stop myself from chasing what will numb the pain? How do we stop the piercing pain of this minute, this hour? We invite God’s closeness. For me, during this painful season of my life, this means praying when it seems too hard and doing it constantly. No matter how deep my pit of despair, prayer is big enough to fill us with the realization of His presence like nothing else does. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8a (ESV) reminds that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. When we invite Him to come close, He always accepts our invitation. And on the days when my heart feels hurt and my words feel quite flat, I can let God’s words guide my prayers. No matter where I am today … knee-deep in pain, maybe heartbreak, or taking the steps of healing or in the desperate in-between…..right now is a great time to invite God to come closer. A prayer that is an example for how you can prayerfully invite God into your own pain is “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1, NIV). Lord, draw me close. Your Word promises when I draw close to You, You are there. I want my “drawing close” to be a permanent dwelling place for me. I am not alone because You are with me. I am not weak because Your strength is infused in me. I am not empty because I’m drinking daily from Your fullness. You are my dwelling place. And in You, I have shelter from every stormy circumstance and harsh reality. I’m not pretending the hard things don’t exist, but I rejoicing in the fact that Your covering protects me and prevents those hard things from affecting me like they used to. You, the Most High, have the final say over me. You know me and love me intimately. And today I declare I will trust You in the midst of my pain. You are my everyday dwelling place, my saving grace. In Jesus’ Name. I like that drawing near promise. Even if I only have a few moments to draw near to God through prayer every day, I can end up feeling a lot less desperate and a lot more whole. If we let Him enter the darkness of our hurt today, He will open wide the door to a much brighter tomorrow, and even if it isn’t now, there is a day coming that definitely will be brighter. That is a day I am eagerly waiting for! God, thank You for always being readily available to talk with me. I am thankful for the reminder that even when I am in a pit filled with pain, You are with me. Your peace is just one prayer away. Thank You for being near to me during heartbreaking situations and pain. I know you have promised healing and it is happening in ways I can’t even see. In Jesus’ Name.
A light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal day of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV)
I have faced several for me difficult times in life, and I have to tell myself, “This can’t/won’t last forever. This, too, shall pass.” When going through hardship, deep disappointment, or some struggle that seems impossible, it’s easy for me to be tempted to think, I cannot stand this for one more day.
The devil takes advantage of our hurts and wounds and tempts us to think several times a day that our trials are going to last forever, that we will hurt for the rest of our lives, or that the negative effect of our problems will be permanent. We think, and sometimes fear, our pain will follow us everywhere we go for as long as we live. The truth is nothing on earth lasts forever. The only thing we have that is eternal is our life in Christ. Compared to eternity, the struggles that seem unending in this life are actually quite brief. God always wants to heal us, restore us, and deliver us. Chances are, you, like me, can look back over the course of your life and remember other times you have been hurt. I was hurt by those who I never expected to hurt me so bad that I could not imagine living and going forward. God has been faithful to bring me through that time, showing me that he had a different plan for me for the future, in a way I couldn’t have begun to imagine for myself. I can now be confident I will make it through current challenges, again through Christ, who gives you strength (Phil. 4:13).
Paul’s point in those verses in 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 is that seasons of difficulty always pass. They do not last forever. Going through trials is tough, but God is always with us—helping us, encouraging us, and fighting our battles for us. He never wants us to stay in pain. He always wants to heal us.
In the days when I was having such a painful back, and knee, I often need to reach out for support to make me feel more confident in walking through the pain. This week I reached out to touch something and did it without thinking about what I was about to touch! I will never do that again! I touch various things, the side of a doorway, the top of a cupboard, the backs of chairs as I go by, whatever makes me feel a bit of support and confidence. So this week, my hand reached out for support and instantly I drew back in pain. I had, without thinking, touched the top of our pellet stove! It was extremely hot and I knew instantly that I was burned bad. I knew I was going to need burn relief and headed for the frozen icy’s that I keep in our freezer. That was at 11am. I managed to get lunch prepared with reduced ability. We ate, I did several things that could be done without my right hand, removing my four fingers from the cooling relief only briefly throughout the afternoon. Every time I took them from the icy, I immediately put them right back on it. By 8pm the pain was still strong. It had not been reduced to a tolerable level. The temptation to be discouraged about the pain was pretty strong. Only then did I begin to think beyond the current pain and wonder about trying to sleep with such severe pain. So, I asked Garry if he thought we had something with Lidocaine in it. He searched and we did! Putting that cream on each of my fingers and then a band aid on each brought such relief in just a couple of minutes that made me wonder why I had suffered for so long when relief was just a squeeze away. I have learned some lessons through this that I am sure that I won’t forget any time soon. I will remember to think before I reach out; I will remember that Lidocaine really works!
When you are tempted to become discouraged because you feel your journey to healing from pain or healing of your soul is taking a long time, remember: “This, too, shall pass.” In this sin-cursed world, you need to hear and think about the subject of how to deal with pain that won’t go away. Your afflictions may not seem “light and
momentary” to you right now, but from the perspective of eternity, they are. No matter how difficult your situation may look, God loves you and has a good plan for your life. Your future is bright, and He is preparing you for something great.
Romans 8:28 says that we can “know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God can take even the hurts and wounds we endure and use them for good in our lives. They won’t last forever, and He will use them to strengthen us and to bless and help others.
Lord, help me trust that my struggles are temporary and that You are with me, healing and restoring. Strengthen me to persevere, knowing this, too, shall pass.
In this ache that does not leave, be my strength. In my weariness, be my rest. Remind me that I am not alone and that even my deepest wounds are not beyond Your repair. Help me to trust Your heart when I cannot see Your hand. Amen.”
I read a short story this week.
During a BRUTAL study at Harvard in the 1950s, Dr. Curt Richter placed rats in a pool of water to test how long they could tread water. On average they’d give up and sink after 15 minutes. But right before they gave up due to exhaustion, the researchers would pluck them out, dry them off, let them rest for a few minutes—and put them back in for a second round. In this second try—how long do you think they lasted? Remember—they had just swum until failure only a few short minutes ago… How long do you think? Another 15 minutes? 10 minutes? 5 minutes?
No! 60 hours! That’s not an error. That’s right! 60 hours of swimming. The conclusion drawn was that since the rats BELIEVED that they would eventually be rescued, they could push their bodies way past what they previously thought possible. I will leave you with this thought: If hope can cause exhausted rats to swim for that long, what could a belief in yourself and your abilities, do for you? Remember what God is capable of. Remember why you’re here. Keep swimming through the pain. by Roy Ice
I will keep swimming through the pains of this world.