Why Write About Pain?
Pain is one of the things that I have been dealing with for the last seven years. It is part of my normal, everyday life. It never, ever goes away. The medications that I take, dull it and the side effects of the medication cause drowsiness and other effects and because of that I have to rest a lot.
This pain and the side effects are the very things that keep me focused on the Lord, reminding me of how far He has brought me and how much He has been changing me, that I am in the process of changing daily, becoming more like the Lord in heart, in attitude. It is an inner journey, that I am not the same man, that I was seven years ago, that I am becoming more conformed to the Lord.
Yes there are days that it takes everything within me to move forward, to go out into the marketplace, to be out in the coffee shops, etc., for those are the very places the Father wants me to be, For it is there that I can focus on others, to look outward, not inward.
It is there that I get to meet new people. To listen, a lot of listening, to encourage, exhort, lift up others. To share the hope, the peace, the rest that I have in the midst of this journey called life. The pain, the things I physically go through maybe my thorn, for they keep me focused and remind me that my strength comes from the Lord.
Yes there are days, I want to let go, but I cannot because I know that the life I live now is because of the Lord, that he is allowed my children and grandchildren to see the changes he has made in me over these last seven years. That others can see and know it is the grace of God, that has enabled me to be where I am now spiritually, and emotionally.
Though I’m on full disability and I can’t do the things I used to, I can do what I’ve been called to and that is to go out into the marketplace, where people are. For me it is the coffee shops, it is amazing how long I can make a large cup of coffee last
I have met so many awesome people over the years in the coffee shops and made so many new friends. I’ve been able to exhort, encourage and lift others up. In a coffee shop you overhear so many things and many times I feel a sense of the Lord to lift those things to Him in prayer and I do, others may reap the fruit, but I get the honor of planting the seed, even though I didn’t talk to them personally. I have learned it is important to respond to those promptings of the Lord. In a coffee shop as well as other places, you overhear conversations, even when you don’t want to.
I don’t know exactly why I felt to share this today, but I have learned when the Lord says to write, I write, the rest is up to him!
I hope the words that I have written will encourage you in your walk, in your life, for we all deal with pain, not all of it is physical. He uses the things we go through to make us stronger and enables us to touch others, because we share out of a relationship, out of a life with the Lord, and we share that very life with others, not out of theory but out of a relationship, that our lives reflect that reality, for often our lives speak louder than our words.
Till later,
Paul
2 Comments »
