“Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)
Tender joints, inflammation, chronic pain, fatigue that blurs the setting of today’s sun with its rising for tomorrow. Dismal visits in the doctor’s office, and the obnoxious prick of a pointed needle.
For far too many of us, this description is far too familiar, a tangoed dance that has timed the rhythm of our steps for far too long. Pain is often associated with punishment, for those of us who feel embattled by the chronic pain associated with a debilitating diagnosis.
We often become lost, overwhelmed, and washed away in a sea of our personal plight. Lost in this sea, we feel as if our voices are drowned as salted water fills our mouths and muffle our cries each time we reach out for help. We feel adrift and set apart from friends, family and co-workers with healthy immune systems, feeling as if they are incapable of truly understanding the physical pain and emotional exhaustion that greets us each day.
Weakened by the failing of our arms as we signal for an SOS, we instinctively turn to others in our lives, expecting them to save us from drowning; expecting their love to become what sustains us. In placing the focus on our loved ones, we turn to an imperfect source seeking perfect understanding, empathy and relief from pain that doggedly pursues us.
Beloved, we must understand that the pain which weakens us and brings us to our knees, perfectly positions us to keep our eyes, heart and every hope on our Heavenly Father, the sole source of endless empathy, understanding and perfect love.
Keeping our heart, spirit and souls filled with Him reminds us of offering of Christ; an offering marked by tortuous inhuman pain and death that led to a miraculous resurrection!
Prayer: Lord, help me remember that Your resurrection allows us to access Your power. Your defeat over pain can fill us with peace.
About the Author:
Both bound and freed by obedience birthed by faith, the oil of joy allows Natasha Webster to embrace laughter and love as a single mother with two beautiful children.
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What joy have you discovered in the middle of the most unlikely places–chronic pain?
Chronic Illness Pain Daily Devotionals 