Why not swap pain for something better, friend?

At our prayer group, I whined1 about a new bunion I was developing.

At the end of the meeting, our Pastor told me he had a bunion, and when I saw it, it was a lot more advanced than mine. He shrugged his shoulders. He still goes for RUNS at age eighty-plus with a painful bunion and a bum knee.

Maybe a little pain is not the end of the world, as much we tend to believe.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

“Get over it,” he seemed to be hinting at me with his sparkling eyes. Maybe he’s right. Maybe we need to learn to live with a bit of pain, and this is not such a bad thing.

His perspective reminds me of the person twenty-five years younger than me that I work out with at the gym2.

She moaned about it being hard getting “older” because of the new aches and pains.

“Take heart!” I thought to encourage her. “ALL the aches and pains I had at her age are GONE!3

And sometimes, God even makes our bodies capable of healing from pain, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Who knows? For example, my friend offered the contact information of a specialist who helped her with her bunion.

Sometimes He gives us each other to help us find our healing.

Sometimes God simply touches us as we reach up our hand to Him and ask for this.

But in the meantime, how do we temper the storms of life as they come?

In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties.

Jesus Christ in The Message

The (relative) good news is that:

Suffering may be our opportunity to become who our friends and family have always longed for us to become.

In fact, at least five gifts can emerge if we partner with the suffering4 in hope.

We can become:

1. A little more empathetic,
2. A little more humble,
3. A little more thankful for the small things we take for granted,
4. A little more capable with increased capacity to weather the inevitable storms of life (Or, a little “tougher” my outdoorsy Dad would have said),
5. A little more willing to stop slapping Holy Spirit’s hand when He reaches out to comfort us.

Lord, help us to allow the suffering that we experience to transform us, we pray. Please help us bear the sufferings we all experience. When it becomes too great for us to bear, increase our connection to You, that You may comfort us and be our crutch to help us walk out our days with Your strength, we pray.

And may your time with bunions or your time immobilized in bed be productive, in a surprising sort of way, friend.5

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

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Photo Credit – Thorns and Sunrise by Josie Weiss on Unsplash

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Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

1 (Only slightly, okay?!)

2 Yes, that IS an impressive statement! Check out THIS article and THIS one to be even MORE impressed with my gym “buff-ness” (Or at least perseverance – same thing!)

3 I have a lot of new ones that are MUCH worse, but the point is, we don’t ALWAYS have to worry about keeping the pain we have!

4 I know that the beginning of a bunion forming example is (only a bit!) pathetic. For a less pathetic example of suffering, check out this article, when I could barely get out of bed for a month, for more thoughts on the possible redemption of suffering.

5 As outlined in the numbered statements above.