Living With Pain and/or Being Healed

        This whole business of living with pain, yet denying it, seems to me an effort which leans upon the absurd.  It is concomitant to playing the clown.  One can only hide the truth by such denial, and act that is absurd and an evil lie.  According  to my Bible, any lie is evil, no matter its intent.  After all, our Lord is Truth Incarnate, and we are to emulate His way of living, thinking and existing.  Are we not?

        It seems to me that the way to handle the problem of pain, is to confront it head on, confess to its sinful hold on you, and set your mind to fighting it with all of your effort.  One cannot give in an lie down and suffer.

No!  One must realize that the Spirit which lives within your body is whole, healed upon the Cross at Golgatha, when the Savior suffered the grand humility there.  Yes, your spirit is whole, but the flesh is not.

        It seems that the Charismatic church wants us each to live a kind of white lie, which is too far from the nature of our precious Lord.  In searching for someone else in the Bible who suffered in this manner, but denied the existence of pain and suffering, but the “suffering through" with humility and courage until the healing comes.  I hope that you understand, I am not denying miraculous healing. I am just trying to deal with what comes before, the suffering which we seek to be healed.

        I also have trouble understanding those who claim that God wants to heal us all, each and everyone.  This is not true.  It cannot be.  Allow me to explain.  He admonished Paul, the Apostle, to suffer his thorn in the flesh.  He allows Joni Erickson Tada to continue in the life of a paraplegic.  Dave Roever still suffers the pain of the burns that took away most of his face, some of his hands.  God certainly CAN heal them, but instead, he ministers greatly through them.  No, it is their courage and humility in the face of that suffering.  After all, what is pain?  I believe it is the opportunity for one to accept the wonderful grace of our Lord; to live with it, in humility and to face each and every moment of pain suffered as a buffing from the Lord.  This is just like a piece of clay that is buffed over and over again, until it becomes the beautiful pottery, that his or her maker wants it to be.

        My brother in Christ, and dear friend, Paul Andres, suffers daily with the terrible pain of his infirmity.  He sits in a wheel chair, which alone becomes a painful experience after a very short time.  He must accept help for things which we do and he has done in the past.  Can you imagine the humility and anger that he must suffer on a daily basis?  Yet, this is a proud man, an extremely intelligent man.  The difference that counts is that he is a man of faith, who realizes that it is because of God’s grace that he exists at all and that for some reason, the Lord allows him to suffer this indignity.  Is he to deny his pain?  For some reason, the Lord allows him to suffer through that.  Is he to deny  his inability to stand and to walk?  That would certainly border on the ridiculous.

        God made our bodies.  All of us were made with limitations of one sort or another.  We have a certain time to live in them, and then there is an appointment with physical death, which takes us to a new and eternal life.  This time on earth is short and it is here that we must learn to live in the truth and honesty.  We must learn to live in holiness.  ANY LIE, no matter its intent or extent, is a lie and therefore is  SIN!  We cannot live in holiness, if we practice to deceive, even if it is our own selves that we  attempt to deceive.  No!  We must make every possible effort to live in truth.

        Several years ago, I ministered to Janie Gonzalez.  She was a sixteen year old girl and one of the sweetest and most beautiful persons I have ever encountered.  I loved her as much as if she was my own daughter.  Janie had cancer.  Our whole congregation loved her .  The congregation, each and every person (including the little ones) prayed and fasted for her healing. Oh, how we loved her.  After a while, Janie went into remission.  She seemed to be getting better every day.

         One day I received a phone call.  Our Janie was dead!  Being of a Roman Catholic family, the funeral was to be held as a mass in the Catholic Church.  Janie’ s family asked the priest to allow me to speak.  He, graciously, allowed me to share the service.  I  spoke of the great courage and dignity, with which Janie demonstrated. In spite of the loss of her beautiful hair   ( It was gorgeous.), in spite of the knowledge that she might die any day, our little Janie always had a smile and a word of love and encouragement for everyone around her.  What a blessing she was in my life!  She didn’t deny the existence of pain, but she refused the temptation to live a pity party.  Janie focused on the beautiful and charming things of life.  That is the key to doing it God’s way.  So, the next time pain hits me, and it is frequent, I am going to attempt to live in the same manner that my precious Janie did, showing courage and humility, and attempting to learn what my precious Lord is trying to teach me with this experience.

        Won’t you join me in prayer.  Right now, where ever you might be, no matter the circumstances, pray with me.

        Dear Lord, how precious You are to me!  My one deepest desire is to be like You in every way, to honor You with my every thought and action.  I don’t understand the reason why I have so much pain.  I don’t understand  or know the reason for it all.  I pray Lord, that I may live with the same humility and courage that I have seen in Janie; the same humility and courage and faith, that I see in Joni Erickson Tada, Dave Roever and in my dear friend, Paul Andres.  I thank you for having made me aware of them.  I pray Lord that you will teach me all that  I must learn from my pain and suffering.  Please, Lord, don’t permit me to show bitterness, anger, or self-pity in my sufferings.  Help me to see through Your eyes and to bless others and thereby be a blessing to You.  Amen!