Pain Limits Your Options

The past couple of weeks of resurgent pain have been very tough to swallow—physically, emotionally, mentally, and relationally. Life-altering pain can wreck you in so many different ways. It puts you in handcuffs without a moment’s notice. It leaves you begging for relief at any time it chooses.

Somehow, I forgot how bad it could be—until things got worse. Until the pain lingered with no sign of when it might change. There’s really nowhere you can run or hide when the pain is stuck inside you. It hurts to sit, to stand, and even to lie down without being medicated. Even something as simple as sitting down to eat a meal can be extremely painful.

Watching life from the sidelines can hurt even more. You want to participate. You want to do things just like everyone else does. But pain severely limits your options. You have to swallow certain truths—especially when the pain is blinding.

In the near future, I plan to start a support group for others who battle chronic pain or illness. Maybe God had to put me back in the “electric chair” so I could return to letting Him use my pain as His platform. So expect to hear more about this support group very soon.

Yes, pain can change your entire way of life. But in God’s hands, pain always has a purpose.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)