Physical Pain

 In 2 Cor. 12 Paul says, "In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I currently have a thorn in my flesh. I can barely move my neck. Cry me a river. :) Sometimes God lets us suffer to teach us a lesson about being prideful. For whatever reason, God seems to want to humble me now. 

Contrary to what some pastors teach, it is not true that God wants us to always be rich and healthy. He wants to meet our needs and he wants to keep us alive to serve him, but he doesn't promise any of us a perfect life free of pain. God uses pain to humble us and to make us run to him faster then ever before. When life is great, we don't think we need God as much. But when things are rough and there is pain, we cry out "Abba Father help me!" and he runs to us to help us. 

When we come to the end of ourselves, God rushes in to comfort us. He let's us become weak sometimes so we can see more how much we need him. When we are weak, we are strong because we finally rely on God's strength. We admit we can't do it all ourselves and that we need His help. 

When I was in college my constant prayer was, "God I can't do this, but you can." I think God wants to hear that from us all the time. God does give us more then we can handle, so that we will need his help more. :)

If you are feeling weak, physically, mentally or emotionally, reach out to God. He loves when we finally come to the end of ourselves, and we ask him to step in and help us. He has no greater joy then comforting us and giving us power when we think we have none. God can show up and show out when we get over ourselves and get out of the way. :)

May God bless you!