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joy in pain.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

If I could, I would take this wheelchair to heaven with me.  Standing next to my Savior, Jesus Christ, I would say, “Lord, do you see this wheelchair?  Well, before you send it to hell, I want to tell you something about it.  You were right when you said that in this world we would have trouble.  There’s a lot of trouble being a quadriplegic.  But you know what?  The weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you, and the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be.  Thank you for the bruising blessing it was, this severe mercy.  Thank you.” - Joni Eareckson

Wow. What if we all viewed suffering as a sovereign thing? Whether it is physical, emotional or relational. What if we viewed every pain as a bruising blessing and a severe mercy? We realize that yes, pain is real. It hurts. But it's only temporary. Something glorious is in the future.

A lot of times we find ourselves wrestling with the fact that we are going through a painful circumstance, saying "this isn't fair. why me?" When we SHOULD realize that pain is the one thing that the whole world has in common. Suffering is the only thingevery human being has in common. Not everyone gets joy, but everyone gets pain.

In James chapter 1, he talks about considering it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. This verse comes across like James is saying be happy that you are going through trials so that you can go  through more! But really it's kind of like when we were "conditioned" in school. When we were younger, the alphabet seemed like torture to have to write out all TWENTY SIX letters haha. But now that's a piece of cake and we can take on 10 page papers!

What James is saying is that the reason we should be joyful in times of suffering is because we know that something greater lies ahead. That we can rage against the pain because it wasn't always like this. And it won't always be like this. There is life in the future. JOY beyond expression in Christ.

If I can walk through the pain that I'm experiencing, correctly, it will change me into something else better. And isn't that worth it? Pain makes me deal with God. Not just deal with him, but love him.

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