How is Faith Related to Pain Tolerance?

How is faith related to pain tolerance? Can a person with great faith endure more than a person with little or no faith? What can we learn from people of great faith that will help us live with chronic illness?

In the early years of my husb&’s illness, pain made him angry. He fought against his pain, often lashing out. To suggest he give it to God only frustrated him. He was the one with an uncooperative body. How could I know how he felt or what he suffered? Yes, he believed in God & in Jesus Christ, but that belief was not faith. It was head knowledge, not heart knowledge

In our thirty years together, my husb& & I have “grown up” in the Lord. Our faith has changed & deepened. Dependence on God has replaced resentment with hope. Faith enables us to say, “this world is not my home” & live based on a healthy spirit rather than a healthy body.

Hebrews 11 names & praises many great people of faith. Verses 13-16 states, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them & welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens & strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

When faith is strong enough to assure you of eternal life with God, it is strong enough to see you through the pain in your physical life. My husb& has greater physical pain now than ever before, but he knows God has prepared a place for him where pain does not exist.

Just today he said to me, “I can hardly wait for the day when I’ll never have pain again.” He is looking for that city where his real home lies & because of this, he can endure today.

Lora Ch&ler has been in a care giving role since 1982 when her husb& began his life-long struggle with pain due to a bone disease. Lora welcomes your comments at lorac@yucca.net.