Pain

I know about pain.

We all do.

We all can tell you about physical pain we have endured.

We all can tell you about emotional pain we have lived through.

Our instinct with pain is to avoid it.

To numb it.

To even run from it.

Pain is a signal that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Tuesday morning while I was teaching pain signaled me that I had a kidney stone. I can tell you personally that bone pain and kidney stone pain run a close race but bone pain wins hands down. I can tell you that for me emotional pain is harder to fix and things in a bottle may numb it but they don't fix it. I can tell you the only prescription for pain relief is turning it over to Christ. There have been times when I cried for pain to end and I found relief in a new day. There have been times when tears only stopped because of His Grace that He poured out on me. My view on pain as a Christian has changed in the last few years. I have friends with pain bigger than my personal pain. I see a world in pain. However, just like I ran to the doctor to fix the pain we as the body of Christ can be used to run. I love to hear stories of churches reaching out to the homeless, the widow, the orphans, the poor because it reminds me that pain is just a signal. It is His signal to us that something is wrong. It is for His glory.