Pain as a Gift?

“Every good & perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17 NIV)

I remember some years ago, reading the book “Pain – The Gift Nobody Wants” written by Phillip Yancey & Dr. Paul Br&, that talks about how being able to feel pain is a gift. Dr. Br& worked treating patients with leprosy & their biggest problem was probably that they couldn’t feel pain in the extremities of their body due to the leprosy, & so they injured themselves, sometimes over & over again.

I had never realized that was why so may people with leprosy had missing fingers or toes & it helped me to see pain in a new light.

After more than twenty years of living with chronic pain, I guess I’ve found out a few things about pain. Some of them have helped me to underst& my pain more, some have shown me ways to minimize it, or live with it, but one its difficult to accept at times, is that pain is a gift.

Whilst I realize that some of the things I’ve learned because of my pain, have been worthwhile & while I see that living with this pain has brought me closer to God in my dependence on Him, do I really see it as a gift?

In James it says “Every good & perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change…” Does that mean that pain too is a gift from God? A good & perfect gift? I think it does.

Its not always easy to sound grateful, but with gifts from God we can trust in the giver who James says, “does not change”. Even if we don’t underst& why the gift comes our way, God does.

I’m not always grateful for my life being filled with pain, but I know that God has a reason for it & I try daily to trust & be grateful for that.

About the Author
Fiona Burrows lives in Melbourne Australia. She is learning to be grateful for the lessons God is teaching her after more than 20 years of chronic pain. She enjoys finding time for writing, travel & photography.