Becoming HIS Tapestry

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THE GIFT? OF PAIN..

Hey friends, how are you today? How was your week? The past few weeks have been busy for our family.  Busy is not a word I want in my vocabulary when it refers to me, especially after the past two years, but here we are… busy.  Now to be un-busy that is the question because this week promises to be more of the same. How are you doing? Has life brought ‘busy’ back into your realm, or did ‘busy’ never leave? 

Happy spring, my friend, although I’m not so sure our weather got that memo.  Presently there is about four inches of snow on the ground. My husband, the ‘snow shoveller ’ in the family was not too happy with this turn of events, especially after we had been enjoying the best of spring weathers.  I’m not sure the birds are too bothered though, as they still flitter from tree to tree perhaps in search of a mate.

A few years ago, in our Sunday school we delved into a lesson tilted ‘The Gift of Pain’.  Isn’t that a funny title for a lesson?  The ‘gift’ of pain? Is pain a gift? Can pain ever become a gift?  Can I decline that gift? Perhaps I don’t want that gift, Lord.  Can I say no to that gift, Lord? 

I remember after having a cesarean section for the birth of our first daughter, lying on my hospital bed in wonderful bliss.  I was so very thankful; I had a no delivery pain.  When the nurses came to tell me, I had to get up from the bed and walk around, stupidly, I thought I had somehow managed to escape all the pain that came with childbirth.  Should have reread Genesis 3:16, perhaps then I would have been a little apprehensive about that order from the nurses. Nothing prepared me for the excruciating pain that followed my first attempt to just get off the bed.  I very emphatically told the nurses, I will not move, I’m staying right there; in fact, I will live in that bed.  So, they did what nurses do, they called my doctor, chickens!   My doctor was my Mom’s doctor, so what choice did I have, when she showed up? None! She was not having it! Gently but very firmly and sternly she spelt out what I had to do.  I had to get up.  I thought I was going to die, I thought my brain was going to explode, the pain was everywhere.  Have I told you my pain tolerance is rather low? Ummm, well according to my husband it is very low.  I don’t do pain well.  Perhaps I should have asked for natural birth, but I asked the Lord for C Section and He said, okay.   As I write this, I am convinced I can still feel that pain. The ‘gift’ of pain.  Yet without that pain, the option would have been to accept a world without our two very precious girls! I suppose then pain can be a gift.  What is the purpose of pain then? How should we respond to pain?

We have several examples of people in the Bible who suffered from both physical and mental pain.  People like Joseph; he was sold into slavery, by his very own brothers! Read that story in Genesis 37.  Then we have Paul who suffered physically with a ‘thorn in his side’ in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. We see in these men a snippet of their acceptance of the pain they must have endured. How did they do it?  How should I endure the pain, I have been called to experience throughout this journey of life?  Here are five steps.

Surrender – wave the while flags; let’s give the pain to the Lord.  We will lay it at His feet in surrender; we may even feel better.  

Submit – our ways are not His ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts. Our God isn’t surprised at the pain coursing through our bodies or our minds or our hearts. Pain is pain, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. He allowed it for a reason; we will perform His will, whatever it may be.

Subdue – the desire to wallow in self-pity, or frustrations and anger is never far away.  We will not give these emotions the authority to rules our lives. These too, we will lay at the Lord’s feet.  

Seek – rather than stay in the cocoon of pain and the emotions that come with it, we will pursue opportunities to be a blessing to others.  Spending time with others helps us to put the trials of life into perspective. Believe it or not, we are not alone in our suffering.  Some do not even know the Lord as their Savior.  Can you imagine their pain?

Serve – let’s choose to work for the Lord in whatever manner, He has called us to, wherever He has called us.  We will work well, in spite of the pain, so that we can hear the words, “well done”.  

Trust the Lord, He is always good and He always remains faithful. How do you handle pain? Whether mental or physical or emotional? 

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46 responses to “THE GIFT? OF PAIN..”

  1. I deal with pain on a ongoing basis. After my surgery for breast cancer the surgeon apologized for cutting so many nerves, including the main one that runs own the side. He said he wanted to make sure he got all the cancer. Then I had radiation on four different parts of my body – my upper back, front of my neck, my armpit as well as my chest. As a result I deal with pain. The first few years it was really bad and constant. Now it comes and goes depending on the weather and on how active I am. When the pain gets bad, I remind myself that the pain is a result of my still being alive. The damage done to my side is also what saved me to live to see my grandkids and now great grandkids. So I just thank God that I am alive to feel the pain. I have also found if I get up and get busy doing something for someone else, or even just something I enjoy – while the pain does not go away, my mind becomes occupied with something other than the pain. I just thank God for life — pain and all.

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  2. Pain can redirect our focus from pursuits that are not beneficial and back to God, giving us a gift of intimacy with Him. When we receive His gift of comfort, we are equipped with compassion to comfort others in their afflictions. At times, God uses pain to move our trajectory so that we inherit a gift of friends and resources that we would not otherwise seek out, providing us with gifts of opportunity. Pain can be a catalyst to a gift of wisdom….and so much more. And through it all, we are given a gift of increased faith as we experience God’s love and faithfulness with every step.

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  3. Boy I’m a wimp about pain, mostly mental pain..I do not do well with it BUT the Lord has purpose for it all…I feel like I have to convince myself of this though!😅
    Great post and key points Brenda!!

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  5. I can still feel the pain of childbirth….from the very first all the way down the line, lol. I don’t do pain well. I never have, physical, mental, or emotional! I am working on surrendering it instead of holding onto it within myself. That never works out well 🙂 But again, pain does help us to grow. If we never experienced pain of any sort, how willing would we be to grow and to learn to seek God out more? Excellent post with many important points, life without pain equals no growth! God Bless!

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  7. I’m a wimp for pain.😫 and you described C-section pain very well. 😵‍💫 I had two of them . I also a natural birth of a 10 lb baby boy. And I had three epidural births . I definitely preferred those but getting the epidural is not fun! But I love all my babies.🥰

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  9. As someone who has lived with chronic pain for over 30 years, being honest, I am not sure I see it as a gift. But I also understand that Jesus, perfect Son of God, was made complete through his suffering meaning because of what he went through he is able to be our sympathetic high priest.

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  11. Brenda, I remember you frequently when the Lord and I “take a walk around the US” as we pass through New York (that’s where I think you said you live, and by the snow I would almost guess Buffalo!! 😉)
    Anyway, your title today caught my eye from when I read The Gift of Pain by Dr. Paul Brand (and Philip Yancey)

    An amazing testimony of how Father guided Dr. Brand in healing the scourge of leprosy, almost completely, from the world. In the process, he explores how Father uses pain to guide us to Himself.
    ❤️&🙏, c.a.

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    • I live more central (Syracuse) a few hours away from Buffalo 😇usually the snow globe goes to one of these two cities every year 😂😂I do believe this book was cited throughout our SS lesson. And truly that is the whole purpose of pain, to draw us closer to the Lord.

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  12. I loved you post and it hit home for me because you see I have suffered chronic pain most of my life to some degree. I was born with a spinal deformity where I am missing discs in part of my spine causing it to rub bone on bone, arthritis in the right side of my neck that causes severe headaches, and pain in my upper spine, then in my late 20’s both of my knees were messed up in a severe car accident. That doesn’t even count heart conditions and other things.
    To say I was angry in 2012 when I was legally made disabled would have been an understatement, but as time went by the anger thanks to God started to give way to peace and now I even have happiness. I count my blessings even if I no remember what it is like not to be in pain. God has blessed me with wonderful doctors, with medications that help with not only pain, but my other conditions as well. He blessed me with people in my life that love and help me. One thing I did refuse after awhile was narcotics those things are horrible and mess with the mind.
    So yes my pain is a gift it has humbled me, removed foolish pride, made me see others in a more gentle light, and made me more understanding of the pain of others and that is sizeable gift indeed.

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  13. Thanks for your refreshing post and illustrating it with a real life example of the birth of your precious children. I agree pain helps us grow. I just wish we could have a break from pain or feeling uncomfortable for at least one day but I do want to grow too. 😊

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  16. Excellent post! I completely agree with you. For my own pain, especially physical, I’ve found praising God really brings me joy, peace, and patience. As someone with chronic illness, physical pain is part of my life, and God has definitely used it as a gift to teach me so much about Him, about His Word, and about myself. It’s a blessing to accept every gift God gives. Thank you for sharing! God bless.❤️

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  19. Excellent post, Brenda! When I had my knee replacement surgery over a decade ago, I discovered that I’m allergic to all opioids and most other pain meds. So, I had to have the morphine with a chaser of Benedryl in order to get out of the bed and be able to breathe without an asthma reaction to the morphine. I wasn’t feeling any pain, but neither was I aware that I was out of bed. Rehab was a real experience…no pain pills at all! But I learned the power of prayer and prayed my way through the excruciating pain of rehab. When the therapist asked me what I wanted to do with my knee, I told him that I wanted to kneel to pray. He said that would be hard, but he would work on getting my knee to bend accordingly. I prayed, he did and I can kneel. So, pain is a gift. It brought me closer and more dependent on God.

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