As a person who lives with chronic illness I have learned, for the most part, how to control my mental, emotional and physical responses to pain.
I remember the day I told my mother-in-law that I battled with headaches on a daily basis. She was absolutely shocked. “I had no idea!” she told me. It’s not that I try to be fake around people. I just prefer not to be known as “the girl who is always in pain.” On a daily basis, I strive to choose joy over despair and sadness. If someone genuinely asks me how I am feeling, I won’t lie — but I also don’t need to walk around complaining about things. Griping, moaning and complaining never does any good. (See Philippians 2:14-15.)
You see, I don’t want people to identify me solely by my struggles; I want them to identify me by my faith in Jesus Christ.
But despite my efforts to remain outwardly optimistic, joy-filled and peppy, I must admit, there are days when the pain finds itself written across my face.
The other day at work, I was walking down the stairs slowly to prevent irritating my leg and knee, which have been giving me intense burning and stinging issues lately. As I reached the landing between the first and second flight of stairs, my coworker caught me by surprise.
“You feeling OK today Lauren?” she asked, visibly concerned.
I smiled and replied, “Ah, I’ll be alright. Could be worse!”
“Is that how life is for you? Some days are good and some days are bad?”
“For the most part, yeah,” I said.
You know those moments when the Holy Spirit speaks to you and you want to act on it but then it’s too late? That’s what happened in this moment. We went our separate ways just as I felt God speak to me:
You might have good and bad days, Lauren. But I, the Lord, am always good. You can always count on my grace and goodness to be sufficient for you.
I turned around to tell my coworker this, but she was already gone. (If she doesn’t end up reading this blog post, I definitely plan on sharing this revelation the next time I see her.)
It was such a simple message, such a simple moment, and yet it struck me to my core. It’s not like I had ever questioned the goodness of God. I knew He was good. What I didn’t realize until that moment, was how self-reliant I had become, and how little I thanked and praised God for just being who He is. For being good to me.
Can you imagine what it would look like to see all of God’s sons and daughters living under the umbrella of this truth? There would be no self-reliance. No bitterness, doubt, resentment, envy, jealousy or strife.
God’s word says that even when our world is drowned out in darkness, even when life is hard, He will never forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5) In 2 Peter verses 1:3, we also learn that “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
If we know our God loves us, will never forsake us, and has provided us with everything we need to live a godly life, then this should remind us that he is good and in control of all things — always.
Difficult as it may be, if we remember that God uses everything for our good, wants us to succeed and will give us exactly what we need, then we will be armed with the joy and peace we need to face any situation. We might have bad days, we might screw up, but that’s OK. God’s got our backs. Isn’t that something worth jumping for joy about?
Where have you seen God’s goodness in your life lately?
Lauren, so MANY things I want to say in response to this. I’ll try to keep it short. First, I am so sorry you suffer from chronic pain.. but your optimistic outlook is not only refreshingly beautiful, it totally resonates with me. There is something to be said about the strong and silent…the people who clearly are the opposite of the “misery loves company” type. You, my dear friend, are the epitome of what people should strive to be like… To remember, despite hardship, trials, tribulation, pain… it can always be worse. And we can always bear more than we think we can. And he doesn’t hand us anything which we can not handle. Your post is not only eloquent, it is touching and raw… it’s beautiful. I admire you so much and thanks for sharing. Xoxo
Dear Cheyanne, I wish I could reach through the screen and give you a hug! (If I’m ever in Florida we need to meet up!) Your kinds words have truly touched my heart. Have a wonderful day and keep fighting the good fight! 🙂
What a great post, Lauren!
I came over on the RaRa Linkup today, and you were the post right before mine. It was no accident. For you see, just this morning I was reading about how much in control our God really is.
Isn’t it amazing how He repeats Himself to us over and over throughout a day!
Thanks for allowing Him to use you today in my life as a reminder that He is always good and always in control of things!
Blessings to you,
Melanie
YES! That right there — that is exactly what I am talking about! God is SO good and He truly does speak to and fight for us each and every day. Many blessings to you Melanie and thanks for visiting the blog! 🙂
Oh how this post resonates within my soul! You have said beautifully what I have had on my heart many times. The daily struggle is real, the pain is real, but we can’t live there. We can’t just abide in our struggles. We must abide in Christ! I also have had those Holy Spirit moments where He told me to say or do something, and in the time I took to question “Are You sure?” or “Really?” the moment was gone and I missed it 🙁 Trying not to do that as much and pray someday I can say, “I never do that!” but I’m not there yet. So thankful for a God who never gives up on me! Thank you for this beautiful, beautiful post! God has spoken to me through you–thank you dear sister!
This is exactly the kind of hope I was searching for today. I’m so grateful that God used words you penned more than a year ago to encourage my heart just when I needed it. His timing is another example of His goodness.
Thank you for sharing about how you overcome intense pain to see through to God’s goodness.
He is good all the time and all the time He is good!
Hugs, my friend!
Oh, Marva, I am so glad God used this post to speak to you in your moment of need. I love you so much, dear sister, and am still praying for you and the whole family.