I live with chronic pain, which is not really something I like to talk about. But you may be reading this and live with the same reality, or know someone who does, so today I decided to talk about it. Everyone will experience pain in their lives, but some will experience more and experience it more regularly. I have at times been led to believe this is due to a lack of faith or trust, which may be true sometimes, but I do not believe that is usually the case. In a world marred by sin, these circumstances are not God’s intent. I had a doctor once tell me, “A person should live a generally pain-free life.” I remember almost laughing because I thought it was comic relief, but after I held it together, I remember also wondering if my doctor knew how true their words actually were. We are actually designed to live pain-free lives, insofar as we understand God’s intention for us in the Garden. Not that I believe there would not be work or some form of discomfort then, or in Eternity when Jesus returns, but I believe it will be different from what we experience now.
George MacDonald wrote (which I discovered because of its inclusion in the Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis, which is a worthwhile read on this topic): “The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.” This and other quotes and stories like this do little to blunt the physical pain, but it does much to blunt the mental toll physical pain takes. My pain means something more than lost jobs or opportunities or the times I can’t take my kids places, or when I cannot even get out of bed. I am like Christ in pain. Not that my pain is equivalent in magnitude or significance, but it is like it in its potential to be transformed from a destructive force into something greater. I will be honest, I rarely know what my pain is transforming me into (other than grouchy), and I certainly do not feel much greater because of it, but I do get the good fortune of trusting God as a result.
So, to you who have been crushed by pain, Christ knows and hears and feels alongside you, and beckons you to suffer well as He did. You are not alone. You, whose migraines steal entire days from you. You, whose chemo treatments make you miserable. You, whose body attacks itself. You, whose joints ache and keep you awake at night. You who must choose between working through debilitating pain or homelessness. You are not alone.
For now, we continue to live in a world where suffering is real, but we hold onto the promise that the pain we experience today is being transformed into something greater, just as Christ’s suffering was transformed. While we wait for the day when Jesus returns and there will be no more sorrow or pain, we don’t have to walk this road alone. If pain has been part of your story and you need help navigating its challenges, feel free to reach out to me or the Church. We have resources available for people walking through challenging times. This is not the manual on Christian suffering, but it is my sincere prayer that it does for you what it did for me: give you the profound, sustaining knowledge that Christ knows you, and that your suffering will not be wasted.
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