Pain

I am sorry but new posts have not been readily forth coming.
Perhaps because my mind is preoccupied trying to deal with pain.

My new medication has still not received authorization from the government – a mere formality, but government wheels turn slowly.

My body has gone into a flair, meaning that the joints in my shoulders, wrists, hands , fingers, knees and ankles which have been declared to be foreign invading objects are under fresh attack by my immune system to eliminate at all cost !!

So, quite literally, I am my own worst enemy!!! Smile

Every step, every movement has to be evaluated in terms of pain – how severe will the pain be and what is the best way to move.
Nights are difficult and mornings impossible. A few hours in late afternoon/early evening seem the least painful which apparently is quite normal…. (Not what I call normal!! smile)

So I ask for your prayers that my medication approval will come through soon. I called yesterday morning and my rheumatologist’s secretary said it usually takes 1-3 weeks. I have waited a week and a half. She did say that if she had time she would call and see if she could speed it up.

I have been thinking of several verses in scripture….

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which he suffered!” (Heb. 5:8)

Pain and suffering are an unavoidable reality in this earthly life, and even the Son of God did not escape it. But even in the pain, there is a good work of God going on. Nothing in His hand is wasted …. Nothing is impossible to bear if we trust in Him !!

“But the God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus ….after that you have suffered a while …make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.” ( I Peter 5:30)

Our suffering in this life is temporary, and not an end unto itself. God will bring us through and make us perfect. Perhaps it is when we are suffering that He has our undivided attention !!!

“Forasmuch then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mine for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” (I Peter 4:1)

I used to wonder at this verse, but it really is true. Pain has a purging effect --- it draws a dividing line between what is important and what is not, making me thankful for small things, giving me a capacity for caring and feeling compassion for others.
David learned this 'ceasing from sin' as he says in Psalm 119:67 "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Your Word."
I do not believe that God 'punishes' His children with pain and sickness, but I do believe that He uses it in our life to bring us closer to Him.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

This verse is of course the best promise !! What joy it will be to live in a world that is pure goodness and peace and life - with no more suffering!!
God will one day put everything right, and what a celebration that will be!!