Recently, I’ve suffered a lot of pain due to three, herniated cervical discs. Oddly, the pain wasn’t in my neck. It was in my left shoulder blade and I can only describe it as searing.
It’s been tough, but through it all, I’ve learned some good lessons.
Lesson 1: I can better relate to people who live with any kind of pain on a daily basis.
Lesson 2: I know what it’s like to feel despair.
Lesson 3: I know I’m loved.
Lesson 4: It’s okay to cry.
Lesson 5: I need faith.
In my darkest days, I admit I sometimes thought God wasn’t listening when I’d pray. Why was I suffering? What lesson was He trying to teach me? Why didn’t He take away my pain?
Then, I thought of Paul the Apostle as he prayed three times to ask God to remove his “thorn in the flesh.”
In II Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul writes: “. . .Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
While the thorn in Paul’s flesh is never identified, it was certainly something that Paul wished he did not have to endure.
If you know someone in pain of any kind, I hope you’ll draw upon these lessons I’ve learned to help ease their suffering. If you are in pain, remember Paul’s words and lean on the Lord. May you draw strength from His ever-loving hand.