Me: What is that crying about Prodigal?
Prodigal: Well my friend Happy, hurt is paw and, his friend Charlie is here to help. I thought I would just be an encouragement.
Me: That is nice of you to try to encourage your friend when he is hurting.
Prodigal: I know what it is like to feel pain and I would like to share in their suffering.
Me: Maureen Brady talks a lot about pain in her book Bound by Illness Freed by Grace. Let me share.
Maureen begins by saying
It takes a long time to recognize the benefits of sharing in Christ’s suffering. Initially, it made no sense to me. I was not prepared for my life to take this turn in the road. I have many plans for my life, and when God changes those plans, I don’t understand. I am often unprepared, and feel ill-equipped, to deal with the chaos that chronic illness brings. Many folks, myself included, waste time by lamenting over their ill-fated pain. Or, many may use their pride to try and manage the situation devoid of God’s help. It is natural to feel despair. In this situation, it’s natural to be afraid of the future. The obstacles in our lives, at times, seem to be growing exponentially and we can’t control it. To try and struggle through chronic illness, rather than accept it, seems like the right thing to do. If we give into it, it might be perceived as giving up. That is unacceptable.
Conversely, affliction that fills me will illness and sorrow, also brings me to a place before God that I would never know without it. I draw nearer to God out of necessity. My prayers become deeper, and my devotion becomes stronger. I now pour my soul before God; I learn to depend on God in a way I never imagined I could.
As I become more and more dependent on Him, I notice my own evolution to positive change. In order to survive the daily struggles that befall me, I find myself in Scripture and prayer from morning until night. I am conscious of the presence of the Lord God Almighty in my life.
I suddenly start to see God’s grace and His strength in my weakness. I celebrate this transformation and thank God for this opportunity. Without all the illness, heartbreak, and grief I have experienced, I would never have grown to this point, spiritually. There is transformation.
You woke up this morning and the pain is suffocating you. You have no strength to get through the next hour, forget about the rest of the day. There is no comfort to be found, not right now, not in this moment. You somehow did make it out of bed though.
Thoughts turn to God, of I don’t want to put up with this today, you wish for some escape. You know there is no escape. Not today. No today will be a day of affliction. God may not answer your prayers today, your pain will be there the whole day. You will feel the darkness of the hurt. God is telling you though that he is taking your tears. He knows suffering. He hurts with you. He is grieving with you. He has not lost sight of you. You are His precious child.
Psalm 56.8 You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle Are they not in Your book?
Jennifer Van Allen,
www.faithincounseling.org
www.theprodigalpig.com
