Tuesday, March 24, 2015

I Hurt, I Mean Really Hurt

Before you pray fervently for miraculous healing, know that my body will never be perfectly healed. I know that, and I accept that. Before you argue that God doesn't work that way, that God never wishes pain on His children, and that I just have to have faith, read 2 Cor 11:24-33 and 12:7b-10 and understand the apostle's trials, that they were inevitable and necessary; that God preserved him from death but not from harm. And then he prayed for reprieve from an abiding pain but was rebuked.

Have I suffered as much as this person and many before and after him for the sake of love of God or the love of others? Hardly. I'm willing to accept my "thorn in the flesh" because I know there is a good it can be used for. Every ill we suffer can be used by us to to relate to another through their own suffering.

I have a certain friend in mind who is in constant pain that brings tears not sighs; that wakes from sleep or prevents it entirely; that trudges on in desperate, hopeful prayer for strength but nevertheless embodies psalm 6. Remember when you pray for others, your prayer is all the more effective when you can pray for that person as if for yourself, when you can reach into that pain and take part in it through the love in your heart. Remember also that the best comfort you can offer can never be mere words but your presence and love.

No comments:

Post a Comment