Tip of My Iceberg

No child enjoys the possibility of getting a shot or having to give blood. The idea of being stuck by a needle can be terrifying. As my kids grew up, I rued the times when I had to take them to the doctor for vaccinations. Five of the six would kick, scream, and fight as if they were being tortured.

My third child was stoic. She’d stare at the nurse giving the injection, then focus on the vaccine as it was given. I had more than one nurse tell me that she freaked them out more than the other five with their caterwauling.

Several of our grands have recently had to have shots as well as have blood drawn. There’s an age when the child anticipates what is coming. They’ve experienced the prick of a needle and react with anticipated fear.

Translated: It took my daughter holding them down with the help of a nurse to be able to get the blood draw. They were understandably terrified. Pain isn’t something most of us seek. It’s something we usually choose to avoid.

Pain is a reality that exists, and we all will experience it. It’s something we often try to avoid or downplay because it’s uncomfortable and inconvenient at best, and destructive and hurtful at its worst.

Not a pleasant experience.

The question of pain is one often asked of God. If He’s so good, why is there pain and suffering in the world? What value is there to pain? Pain feels so random and unfair.

It’s because we’re individually broken, which the Bible calls sin. As much as we’d like to do everything the right way for the right reasons, we don’t. We can’t. We get in the way of our own best intentions. We’re unable to live perfectly, which is what is needed if we want to achieve heaven. It’s why Jesus came to give us the opportunity to be seen as perfect because He paid a price we couldn’t.

He said we could expect the challenge of problems and pain.

“Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33b.

He understands what pain does to us. “The LORD hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:17-18.

Pain is a significant part of our lives. We can’t hide from it, avoid it, or pretend it doesn’t happen. We can give it to God. C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.” He’s present with us in our pain, empathizing with all that happens to us.

The kids would have done anything to avoid the pain of the shots they had to experience. Mom was with them through the procedure, though it didn’t keep the fear from escalating the pain. She understood what they felt, and she loved them through it all.

God loves us through the hard times, the horrors, and the pain. He knows what suffering is; He watched His Son experience the worst of the worst as He was crucified, a choice He made so we could live. A pain He took for us so our eternity would be free from pain.

Pain will happen. We can’t live each day afraid of its possibility. But we can live with the hope that when pain does enter into our lives, Jesus is there to help carry it.

Can you give your pain to Him?