Living to leave a legacy,
Julie
CHAPTER
nine
Living
with Pain
“…but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward
to what lies ahead.”
Philippians
3:13 (NLT)
When my boys were little they had this weird fascination with Band-Aids.
I couldn’t keep the cabinets stocked with enough of them. They kept disappearing. We were constantly running out and I
couldn’t figure out why. As I
investigated, I discovered that my boys had been raiding the boxes daily. They had a unique philosophy when it came to
Band-Aids. They thought that anytime they hurt, that a Band-Aid placed on the
injured area would immediately heal them and take away all of their
pain….interesting concept.
I observed their theory in action several times to try to understand
their reasoning. When they would get a
bump, bruise, or scratch, they cried their eyes out and immediately stopped the
minute the Band-Aid was placed in position.
Wallahhhh… they were healed! I
wish it were true! This thinking seems a
little silly, but some of us see God in the same light. We hurt and therefore
we want Him to immediately put a Band-Aid on it and take all of the pain away.
It is inevitable that we will face pain some time in our lives. It could
be the pain of a broken relationship, hurtful words, a miscarriage, financial
hardship, disease, death, an injustice, or a physical pain that won’t go away.
When we face pain, we can relate most to Jesus and how He felt on the cross. He
was willing to suffer and to do whatever it took to build a bridge for us to
get to God. Jesus understands pain. He can relate.
There have been many times in my journey that I wished I could put a
Band-Aid on my life and see it immediately healed. It would be awesome to see all the hurt go
away in an instant. It’s a nice idea,
but it doesn’t always happen that way. God doesn’t
promise to take away all of our pain. He
does promise, however, to walk beside
us through all of life’s difficulties and carry us when it’s too hard for us to
go on.
John
16:32-33 says…
“But I'm
not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that trusting
me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world
you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered
the world." (MSG)
Instead of bringing our pain to God, we generally choose to carry it on
our own. Our world is filled with
broken people carrying invisible hurts.
We can’t always see the evidence of emotional wounds, but they are just
as real as physical injuries. Pain is
pain no matter how it masks itself. It
is harmful and damaging if it is not treated.
