The Unseen Hand of Pain

"Pain, the gift nobody longs for, still it comes...

And somehow leaves us stronger when it's gone away..."

Pain is defined by Webster as:

"Localised physical suffering associated with body disorder; a basic bodily sensation induced by a noxious stimulus, received by naked nerve endings, characterized by physical discomfort, and typically leading to evasive action; acute mental or emotional stress or suffering."

I was talking with a friend last week regarding chronic pain. Both of us are chronic pain sufferers, and she was referring me to a pain clinic that she has recently frequented and recommends the doctor of the clinic.

She told me that the first day of one of the classes on how to cope, the teacher walked in the room and said: "Look at this group of people. They're all normal. No one is in a wheel chair, no one has a cane. No one is physically deformed, they're all perfect! Why would they be in pain? There's no way they can be. They must be fine." He then proceeded to say that this is how the world as a whole sees those who suffer from chronic pain.

Since they can't SEE anything wrong with you, there must not be anything wrong. Either you are classified as a liar, a faker or a hypochondriac: very rarely does someone accept what you say unless they see a physical symptom.

Pain is a strange thing, and usually very beneficial. For most people, pain is a warning sign, a trigger to know that something isn't wrong. When you feel that trigger, it elicits a response to fix the source of pain. If it's a curling iron touching the skin of your neck: you remove it, a bee stinging your leg: you slap it away and put ice on the sting, if you twist the wrong way and strain a muscle: you relax, put heat on it and lay low until the pain abates.

For chronic pain sufferers, there isn't always a cause for the pain. Your body could just hurt. Or if it does have a cause: there isn't a fix.

I have degenerating discs in my back: there is no quick fix. Sure I could pop an Aleve or two, but that's only temporarily dampening the pain receptors, it doesn't fix it long term. I was told that until I was in so much pain I could not function, that they wouldn't even consider surgery (which is fine by me). You generally can't tell by looking at me that I'm in pain. Unless I told you, you wouldn't know that every day of my life, I have some sort of pain in my skeleton from one of my hips being higher than the other, resulting in degenerating discs, bad knees, hips that constantly hurt, etc.

My point is this: just because you can't tell something is wrong by looking at someone, doesn't mean that everything is coming up roses.

I've often heard the saying: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle." It may not be physical, but it could be spiritual. It may not be spiritual, but it may be emotional. The simple truth is that unless you are told otherwise: you have no idea what another person is dealing with.

I, for one, am thankful that chronic spiritual pain isn't something we must deal with. It's the easiest to take care of...take it to the feet of Jesus and leave it. Let Him soothe the broken hearts, let Him find the cure.

But for the time being, I must be content with my lot in life of experiencing pain, because He hasn't seen fit to remove it yet. I must learn the lessons that can be learned from pain, and apply them to life.

And I must also remember, to be kind to every person I come in contact with because I don't know their battle.