Tag:

pain

Pain, No More!

by TerryLema

Pain is a given in this life. It is liberally spread across the human race. It comes in many forms, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. It can be acute or chronic. It can have a wide range of intensity (from not much to the worst pain ever experienced).

I was thinking about pain at this moment because I had a rough day yesterday dealing with it. At one point, I tried to remember the last time I was truly pain free. All I could remember was that it was “a while ago.”

There are two things I know about pain. I know its origin, and I know its end.

Pain originated in the Garden of Eden. When Eve bit down on the lie of the enemy and Adam followed, sin entered. And with sin, pain. And with sin, death.

In Genesis 3, God told Adam and Eve about the consequences of their sin. Eve and all who would come after her, would experience pain in childbirth, while Adam and all who came after him would have “painful labor” in providing what was needed to survive.

But as we can pinpoint pain’s origin, we also have the promise of pain’s end. It comes when Jesus returns and this world becomes His.

“[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:4 HCSB]

I may have days of pain here … but oh glory! I won’t have a single moment of pain there. Even so, come quickly LORD Jesus!

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Pain

by TerryLema

My doctor reduced the dosage of my infusion medication. It is a trial period to see if I am in remission or if the auto-immune diseases are just under control. The proof will be if the PMR and GCA pain returns. So now I am on the watch trying to determine if the pain I have is from the diseases, from old age, or from the side-effects of the medications or the lingering effects from the virus I had last year. And if that pain is going to stay at the level it is or get worse.

Pain. Ugly four-letter word. Three years ago I was doing well. I did not wake up each morning thinking about pain. Then in the span of two weeks, pain invaded and has never left. Some days are worse than others, but all days I battle some sort of pain.

Pain, of course, is a warning that something is wrong. It is not always physical; it can also be mental or emotional or spiritual. That makes a promise in the final book of our Bibles the most welcome of promises.

John saw a new heaven and a new earth. Everything that was – was no more.  Then he heard a voice shout from heaven.

“’Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous thing have passed away.’” Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.’” [Revelation 21:4 HCSB]

See that little phrase tucked right in the middle?  “Pain will exist no longer.”

Pain tells us that something is wrong with us – but there is coming a time when there will never be anything wrong with us again – forever. I wonder if we will even ‘remember’ what pain was like?

0 comment
FacebookEmail

The Day of Previous Things

by TerryLema

The 2022 Masters Golf Tournament was played at Augusta National April 7 to 10. Usually, the field consists of around 90 to 100 golfers.  There was one winner. His name is Scottie Scheffler. He came in ranked number one in the world.

You would think it not surprising that the number one golfer in the world would win one of the biggest and toughest tournaments in the golf year, but it was just 57 days prior that Scheffler had his first win on the PGA Tour. (He now has four wins in his last six starts.)

There was, however, another golfer on the tour who seemed to get much more attention than Scheffler from both the media and the crowd. His name is Tiger Woods. He has been the number one golfer in the world multiple times. He has won The Masters five times; his first victory in 1997.

This time the attention on Tiger was anchored in his recovery from a car accident that nearly took his right leg. It was uncertain that he would be able to walk; it was extremely uncertain that he would be able to play golf again.  But he came back, and his bravery garnered most of the interest on the course.

Woods was honest about his pain.  It was noticeable at times that he was limping and even using a golf club like some of us use a cane. But he persevered. Making the cut he played all four days. By the end, the strain of pain was evident on his face. His score was nothing to speak of, yet his courage won the day.

So many of us live with daily, chronic pain. Some of it is the physical pain which often accompanies aging. Some of it is the pain of specific diseases or conditions. Sometimes the pain is not physical, but emotional. We suffer loss and that pain never truly leaves us.

As I watched Tiger Woods walk Augusta National in pain, I was reminded of a promise of God to those who love Him. It is found in that last, marvelous, victorious book of Scripture.  “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:4 HCSB]

Now we are living in the day of “the previous things,” but, there is coming a time, beloved, when “grief, crying, and pain” will be banished forever.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

That Old Recliner

by TerryLema

I have a lounge chair. It was given to me by a friend who was buying new furniture. It is big and comfy. I spent weeks in it when I had the virus.  In the afternoon I can put my feet up and lean back and nap as the sunshine pours in through our living room window. When I come into the living room, that old lounge chair invites me to come over and enjoy its comfort. I know I could spend days (and maybe nights) in that lounge chair reading or playing on my computer.

I love that old lounge chair! It is not only comfortable, but unfortunately, it also entices me to give up and not fight anymore.

Inside I do not feel old at 75 years, but the last few years have taken a toll on my body that I still have to fight. I have pain most days and my muscles have lost most of their strength. It takes effort to do even the most common things, such as emptying the dishwasher or running a vacuum or simply taking a walk.

I have a choice to make each day—to fight to move or to accept the invitation of that old lounge chair and spend the rest of my days napping in the sunshine.

I have chosen to fight to move as long as I can. I think every day about what God told Paul when he asked God to remove a thorn in the flesh that he had been enduring. He asked three times to have it removed, but God chose a different path for Paul. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

 Paul responded, “Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” [2 Corinthians 12:9-10 HCSB]

I do not think I have yet reached that point where I can say like Paul “I take pleasure in weaknesses,” but I can agree with him that because of Christ, “when I am weak, then I am strong.”

0 comment
FacebookEmail

But as for me …

by TerryLema

I was reading Psalm 69 this morning. It is a song of David. It is a plea for rescue. You cannot read it without noticing the prophetic words about our LORD Christ Jesus and His crucifixion.

The first 28 verses are difficult to read. David is surrounded by enemies, in great distress. He recounts to God his own sin and the pain and grief he is experiencing at the hands of others. Then in verse 29, something changes. It seems that David begins to look up at God. It begins with a personal declaration … “but as for me.”

“But as for me—poor and in pain— let Your salvation protect me, God. I will praise God’s name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.” [Psalm 69:29-30 HCSB]

“But as for me,” David writes, even while I am “poor and in pain” I will choose to look to God. God’s salvation will protect me. I will choose to praise God’s name. I will choose to sing. I will choose to exalt. I will choose to offer thanksgiving.

It really does come down to that personal choice – that decision that no matter our poverty or pain, we will choose to offer God thanksgiving and praise. We will sing songs in the night that exalt our LORD and Savior.

No matter how great the darkness around us, it does not have the power to stifle our voices. It cannot stop our singing or exalting or thanking or praising our God. The only thing that can stifle our voices is our own choice to remain silent.

0 comment
FacebookEmail