I have a chronic condition that I still hate to admit. In some ways (maybe you can relate), admitting pain feels weak … it feels permanent and hopeless. To my pride, pain lures me into a cage fight where my will, and the pain I feel will battle to a bloody end. The days when my will over powers pain, are days when I’m short tempered, hostile, depressed, and slow moving. I’ve never lived one of those days feeling like I’m truly living … rather, coping, limping, surviving. Those are days where my strong-will weakened my perspective of what it is to be cared for by a tender-hearted God.
There are ways to be healthy in the midst of pain. I truly hope you grab on to some of these as means to see with hope, direction, and allow Jesus to walk with you in the midst of pain.
Communion
The communion I offer to you is not orchestrated by the elaborations of religion. It’s within this sacred and personal space that savoring His sacrifice of love recalibrates your perspective. When I take communion, it’s a humble act where my pain and my will is given over to the empowerment of Christs’ love for me. In moments when I needed Jesus to be closer to me than the pain, I found His closeness through communion.
Friend, pain is not the absence of His love. Rather, His companionship can be known in your pain.
Taking communion allows you to see with a healthy perspective – one of hope and security, knowing you’re not alone rather you are found, seen, heard, and given access to know Jesus’ companionship in an empowering way.
Listen and obey your body cues.
I remind myself often of this quote by Ann Voscamp, “Life is not an emergency.” For those with chronic pain, we tend to believe we’re behind, behind in our work and in our life. We have viewed our pain as the hinderance that has caused us to lose out, and to some degree, maybe so. It seems that while everyone else is gaining, we’re losing. This perspective causes us to see the present as a waste of time, as pain being a waste of our precious time. The mindset that pain should be ignored – pressed through – is demanding our body live in a state of constant emergency.
What if the pain that has you halted, is time spent for your healing? For some, backing away from stressful situations, people, or too many obligations you’ve acquired – may bring the physical healing you need. For me, yes to all of the above mentioned and, surrendering to the halting and missing out moments that pain has brought, has also brought an awareness to what my body needs to heal.
- Your body needs less stress.
- Your body needs rest and joyful movement.
- Your body needs mercy, grace, and nourishment.
- Your body needs you to set boundaries.
- Your body needs you to commune with God.
For those with chronic pain, knowing and respecting your limits is not weakness, it’s honoring the body God gave you.
Reframe your pain
Instead of viewing your pain as a hardship you’ve not overcome – view your pain from the lens of another. What would you say to your close friend going through what you have? Would you tell them they’re failing, not keeping up, not trying hard enough? … no. You’d tell them you see their strength; you see their willingness to show up, you see that the struggle is hard and to be gentle with themselves … you’d offer tenderness and understanding. You’d tell your friend how you admire their courage and how they’ve inspired you.
When I look back over the years of my own story of chronic pain – I see Jesus. I see days when the pain felt like it had swallowed me whole, yet Jesus’ companionship helped me navigate doctors and medicines. His gentle presence helped me speak softly to my children and be merciful to my body.
Pain speaks a language of despair and hopelessness, it’s a language too many are sadly fluent in. However, pain is an indication of what wants to live – in health! If you suffer from chronic pain, you can have a healthy mind and heart. The pain you experience does not define you as a person, you are not the pain – you are a living testimony of the goodness of God. When that becomes your perspective, health is obtained.
Cheering for you,
