Pain Questions

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a few comments about pain.

Here at Joni and Friends we receive a lot of emails from people who live with chronic pain. In fact, every time I talk about it on the radio, my goodness, we get response from listeners. So many Christians live with intractable pain. And because I struggle with chronic pain, I really identify with them; I understand!

Now what are the most common questions that people write with? Well, the other day Nancy wrote, “Joni, why does God allow me to be in chronic pain? Doesn’t He care?” And I replied to her, “Oh Nancy, we live in a terribly broken world, and if we really saw how most people in the world live (like in developing nations), we would honestly think that our plight was featherweight. Sin dealt an awful, crushing blow to this planet, and we have no idea how terrifyingly painful life would be were it not for the hand of God’s grace protecting us from more pain. But God does allow pain to pass through His fingers to touch us, and when it does, it is hard. Even when I am overwhelmed and near tears with so much pain, I draw comfort from the example of Christ and the way He faced His pain. I lie in bed and rehearse back to God every Bible verse I’ve memorized, the line of every worship song I know by heart. I recite back to God this quote by Alan Redpath that I memorized years ago: “For there is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.” And what is pain’s purpose? That we might reach out and find Jesus in a deeper, more personal, more sweet and intimate way than we possibly could were there no pain to drive us to Him.

I remember other people whose pain is worse than mine. I have several Christian friends—actually six of them—who are completely bedridden because of pain. Barbara spends most of her time curled up in a fetal position. Another, Timothy, has something called adhesive arachnoid-itis, a rare, painful condition that has forced him to bed, as well. I pray like mad for these people, and I ask them to pray like mad for me. Prayer is a means of grace, sustaining grace. So the more we pray for others, the more God will sustain. He’ll carry us through our own pain.

People also write with questions about pain medication. Thankfully, we live in a country where, for the most part, we have access to good pain therapies. And yes, there are even powerful pain meds that are non-narcotic, but still, with all the problems there are with addiction, you’ve got to be responsible with their use. Pain meds like tramadol, as a Christian, I see no problem taking medication like that—if—if you don’t allow it to rule your life. (Like you know, anxiously counting the minutes before you can take your next pill). There is no pill that will take away all your pain. At best, you might be able to occasionally “break the cycle of pain” with something, but for the most part, if I cannot, I deep breathe, stretch often, take natural anti-inflammatories. I drink a lot of water. I pray for others, and (here’s the best advice about pain) I just do the next thing. When pain overwhelms, just do your best to simply do the next thing. There’s nothing like a really good distraction to keep your mind off pain and on others. Friend, if you deal with pain, the team here at Joni and Friends would love to pray with you and even send you some great resources about pain management. Just connect with us at joniandfriends.org/radio. Thanks for listening today on Joni and Friends.

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