Everyday Pain

Published by christi on April 24, 2020April 24, 2020

I woke this morning with unanticipated pain.

In a fallen world like ours, pain is to be expected:  It came with the first act of disobedience.

It is a gift:  It warns us that something is amiss.

It is an opportunity:  It invites us to explore our hearts.

My first response to pain is: What did I do that I should not have done? I somehow have gotten the notion that if I “get it right,” I will not be in pain. (I have some good ideas where that comes from, but that’s not where I’m going with this today.)

Most of us fight suffering…of any kind. We don’t like it.

We take meds.

We pray for pain to subside.

We ask for healing, solutions, rescue.

When those things don’t happen, we rebel. We feel abandoned. We doubt God’s love, our place in the plan, our value. We get angry. Others question our obedience, our faith, our salvation even.

Jesus, the One I am committed to follow, gives us a whole different view of pain.

He faced His own pain (hunger, loss, rejection, grief) and the pain He would suffer for us:

–with unwavering commitment and submission to the Father’s plan (rescue of a fatally fallen and imprisoned Bride)

–from the absolute truth that the Father’s love for Him never fails,

–with the complete understanding that pain does not indicate disfavor.

He never “got it wrong!”

So, following Him today as I face my own pain I will:

–declare my agreement that pain does not indicate God’s disfavor toward me.

–break agreement with the lie that “if I got it right, I wouldn’t hurt.”

–commit myself (by the power of the Spirit that works within me) to trust the Father’s plan for me.

–submit my will (again by His power) to Jesus, binding my desires to His as He did to the Father’s…”not my will, but Yours be done.”

Following Jesus everyday in the everyday pain…

Christi