Don't Waste Your Pain

My prayer tonight

Sunday, February 1, 2015 by Unknown

O You Father of mercies, and God of love, who have kept me so long under your chastening hand, I thank you for all the tender care and kindness you have shown me.

Pardon me for any impatience, and for any restless feeling, which has at any time sprung up within me. Pardon me for my lack of faith and love. Pardon me for my coldness and dullness of heart. Pardon me for those sinful thoughts and evil desires which have crept into my soul. Oh cleanse me, Savior, from my guilt. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Give me peace, even in the midst of suffering. Make me to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. When I read your holy Scriptures, make them speak words of life and power to my soul. When I pray, may the Spirit help my infirmities. When I am alone, be with me. When I am with others, may I try to do them good. When I sleep, guard me. When I lie awake, may I enjoy sweet thoughts of you.

O God, make this long illness a blessed preparation time for eternity. Make me to know Christ, to love Him, and to serve Him. May I live upon Him from day to day, and from hour to hour. And for His sake may I at length be admitted into Heaven, to dwell with you for evermore. Amen.

-Ashton Oxeden

Posted in: choosing joy, comforts from the cross, depression, do not be afraid, Does God care if I'm suffering, don't waste your pain, faith, it's not fair, prayer | 0 comments | |

Peace That Surpasses All Understanding

Saturday, January 3, 2015 by Unknown

Last night as our family was reading through Philippians 4 we got to verse 7 and I really digested the words spoken-

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all

understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Peace...what chronic pain sufferers want the most! Where do we get this peace? The world is looking for this peace everywhere, but nothing satisfies, nothing brings us comfort or peace like the Lord. Let's look deeper at this verse.

In verse 6 we are told not to be anxious about anything but pray about everything with thankfulness.

So the first step towards peace is prayer.

When we come to the Lord with thankfulness, even in our pain and suffering we demonstrate our trust in Him. I have a saying I like to think about when I pray. It's pretty simple...

Pray your thankfulness that you may realize it.

When we pray to the Lord and our heart is thankful, we realize how much the Lord has graciously given us and it creates in us an abundance of joy because of how good God is...Even. In. Our. Pain.

Because of this first step of praying with a thankful heart we don't have to be anxious, and because of what the Lord has done in us, the Holy Spirit gives us peace. And this is not the peace the world offers...This peace surpasses all our understanding... No one outside of the family of God can ever explain the peace a believer experiences in the midst of our pain. The world SHOUTS at us to find a way out of the pain, to numb the pain, But nothing gives us that peace only God provides. And that peace guards our hearts and minds. What from? From ourselves. From our wicked, selfish attitude. The one that cries, "This isn't fair. I don't deserve this." You see, that peace we've been talking about replaces our selfish need to have it our way. This peace tells us God is in control and because of that I can face this pain. Glory to God!!! He knows what we need and we just need to be obedient to His Word. May you, today, experience this peace.

Posted in: choosing joy, chronic pain, comforts from the cross, Does God care if I'm suffering, don't waste your pain, holiness of God, I can't take this pain, peace in pain | 0 comments | |

Through the Fire

Monday, December 29, 2014 by Unknown

Ouch! On Christmas I burned my right hand on the stove. It really hurt! We've all been there. Fire is very beautiful but...oh how it can burn. This fire that burns so hot is also so great in refining...We can put gold and silver into the fire to refine it, to take out the impurities and make it more pure. In comparison the Bible describes us being refined in the fire (Psalm 66:10). God purposely places us, His dearly loved children, in the fire of affliction, pain, despair...etc. Why? What could be His purpose? Well if we look at what fire does to gold we see the Master's purpose-it refines us, makes us more like Him, less like ourselves and our sinful nature. How does it do that exactly?
I'm sure you can attest to times in your life, maybe recently, that you have been in terrible pain, like the affliction will never end. You may have continually gone to the Lord, seeking comfort. You see, God may want to wake you up out of your complacency! It may have been awhile since you noticed the Lord or prayed to Him. Getting our eyes off of ourselves and onto Christ is a huge reason for the refinement. Zechariah 13:9 answers this:

And I will put (them) into the fire,

and refine them as one refines silver,

and test them as gold is tested.

They will call upon my name,

and I will answer them.

So the things that really stick out in this verse is that first off God is the one that PUTS us into this fire. Yes, our loving God allows us to be tested and afflicted. And what happens is that His children TURN to HIM. Amen!

Are you, in your pain, turning to Christ? He is there, waiting. He loves you and has a purpose in your pain! He is good all the time. Thanks be to the Lord that He hears our cry.

Posted in: choosing joy, chronic pain, disability, help in pain, hope in pain, joyful suffering, losing hope, trigeminal neuralgia, why God allows pain | 0 comments | |

Immanuel

Monday, December 22, 2014 by Unknown

Merry Christmas to you. I know it is a hard time of year for those of us with chronic pain...All the shopping, interacting, demands on us, etc. It can become overwhelming. Tonight I want to reconnect you with the meaning of our lives...this baby, this God-man, our Savior-Immanuel who is God with us.
I love Spurgeon. If you've never read his works I highly suggest you break open a book by him. He loved the Lord and brings God freshly to life! I have included a part of one of his sermons for your reflection. I pray your Christmas is pain free, but if it is not, I pray your eyes stay on our Immanuel.

Here is the link. My favorite part is when he says,

"God with us," is the sufferer's comfort, is the balm of his woe, is the alleviation of his misery, is the sleep which God gives to His beloved, is their rest after exertion and toil.

God bless you!

Posted in: choosing joy, chronic pain, Does God care if I'm suffering, fight the good fight, God with us, God's will, hope in pain, joyful suffering, living by faith, losing hope, merry christmas, Spurgeon | 0 comments | |

Christmas with Chronic Pain

Sunday, December 14, 2014 by Unknown

A fellow sufferer of chronic pain has a great blog post about dealing with pain while everyone else is merry. You can get to it HERE.

Thanks JoJo!

God bless!

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Expiration date!

Thursday, December 11, 2014 by Unknown

Sooo, you know that moment you open the refrigerator and take out your favorite food only to find out it expired the day before? Not happy moments, but there is one expiration date that will forever, and I do mean forever, be a happy day! Let's hear from John about this amazing day in our future-

Revelation 21:4

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Praise God! I look forward to this day when my pain will expire! There will be no more crying or pain. Can you fathom such a day? Don't Waste your pain today thinking and dwelling on your pain. Keep your eyes focused on Him and just remember...Today you are one day closer to that final day when all things will be made new including these brittle bodies we have.

God bless you!

Posted in: choosing joy, chronic pain, comforts from the cross, Does God care if I'm suffering, don't waste your pain, free book, hope in pain, I can't take this pain, is God there, it's not fair, losing hope, no more pain | 0 comments | |

Our Character In Our Time Of Pain

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 by Unknown

As I was reading Romans 5:3-4 today I came to the word character. What exactly is character and how do we develop it in the midst of chronic pain? Paul tells us:

We rejoice in our suffering...
our rejoicing in our suffering produces endurance...
our endurance produces character...
our character produces hope...

So the first step in developing a Christ-like character while suffering is rejoicing IN our suffering. This means a purposeful focus on Jesus and on eternity-knowing that this pain is only for a season. We will one day be with Him in heaven forever! Amen. This fact, along with recognizing how amazing the Gospel is, will cause us to rejoice, knowing what we have been saved from!

The second step in developing Christ-like character is when we rejoice while we suffer the Holy Spirit helps us to endure through the pain while rejoicing! Endurance is shown to us in Hebrews as one running a race. The race is our lives. We are called to continue running, to endure until the end. This means CONSTANT focus on the Lord as well. If we let the things of this world cloud our focus on our Savior we easily feel like we cannot endure and we may give up! But God calls us to endure because He says endurance in this life, this race, leads to Godly CHARACTER.

Have you ever reflected on what this word means? Our endurance leads to this in our life. Our character...our moral strength, our integrity. It changes us. Makes us more like Christ as we continue to suffer-rejoice-endure...and then finally our changed character produces in us hope.

We can look back and see the work of Christ in our lives in the midst of suffering and we can be thankful for all He has done for us through our suffering, hopeful of what is to come.

The exact opposite is true, then...

If we don't rejoice in our suffering it leads to discontentment.
Discontentment leads to discouragement.
Discouragement leads to dissatisfaction.
Dissatisfaction leads done the path few return from. No hope.

Pray today for God to show you the way of rejoicing in His purpose in your life!

Posted in: affliction, christian, chronic pain, depression, God's medicine, Godly character, help in pain, hope in pain, I can't take this pain, numerous medications, pain management, prayer, trigeminal neuralgia | 0 comments | |