I’m no stranger to pain. I was diagnosed with fibroymalgia and arthritis in my early 20s. During my first pregnancy it was discovered I have gout. Doctors love telling me I am too young for many of the ailments I’ve experienced through the years.
Many doctors told me that my only hope over the pain was exercise and weight loss. For years, I ignored their wise counsel. Surely,I thought this was how God made me and there was a reason for it. Two years ago, feeling hopeless about my health and future I decided trying to lose weight and exercise. It couldn’t make it any worse, so why not give it a try. Turns out diet and exercise do help! Now that I’m at a healthy weight, exercise daily and avoid certain foods, fibromyalgia and high blood pressure are a thing of the past.
During my transformation I took up running. It is not easy for me, but I grew to love the time in solitude; particularly running on trails. It gives me time to pray and worship while taking in the majesty of God’s creations all around me. But, the more I ran the more my past caught up with me. You can’t reverse arthritis. The years of damage had been done to my joints and my body didn’t like high impact activities like running and the jumping in my Beachbody workouts. I’ve had to put my marathon goal on the back burner while I cope with knee pain.
Again, I turned to doctors for help. They prescribed physical therapy. The word therapeutic is defined as “of or relating to the healing of disease” (Merriam-Webster). There is no doubt I need healing. Despite my healthy lifestyle choices, my body is still battling disease. You can call it arthritis, you can call it pain, you can call it whatever you want, but the bottom line is it’s disease.
The truth is, we will always have some sort of disease in our life that needs healing. For me, that’s pain from arthritis. For others, it could be addiction (to porn, drugs, money), MS, cancer, envy, gossip, lust, etc. Yes, I just went there. We all have something in our lives that needs healing. We can turn to doctors for help, and often that is necessary. I admit I have turned to therapists for different reasons over the years.
There’s a viscous cycle that those with chronic pain know well, the order may be rearranged but it looks like this:
Pain leads to depression which leads to inactivity with leads to more depression and more pain
OR
Depression leads to pain which leads to inactivity which leads to pain which leads to depression
OR
Inactivity leads to pain which leads to depression which leads to inactivity which leads to pain
The cycle repeats over and over again; until we stop it! How do you stop something you often can’t control? If it’s an addiction you have some control, you can seek therapy and maybe even get medicine to help manage your problem. If it’s cancer you may not have many options. But there are a few things we can do no matter our circumstances.
Today at therapy there were many different kinds of people seeking help. Some were injured athletes like myself, others were older adults seeking to increase their mobility, there were adults recovering from surgery and many others. We all had one thing in common. We were there. We showed up. We didn’t stay at home in bed and wallow in our misery. We didn’t say “woe is me, I am riddled with disease” (pain, or sin or whatever the issue may be that is holding them back from living life). They all got out of bed today and made a choice to keep fighting. They didn’t give up.
We don’t have to let our past pain or even present pain define our future. We have a choice to make, each and every day. While we can’t always control our circumstances we can control how we respond to them. I would have never made it this far in my journey if I gave up when the pain was unbearable.
If you are stuck in the viscous cycle of pain and despair I mentioned, there is hope!
The book of Romans states:
“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Read it again. Did you catch it? There’s another cycle we can follow.
Suffering leads to perseverance which leads to character which provides hope!
Do not despair! Even though pain may not just be a temporary part of your life, there is still hope. Take it from someone who knows a thing or two about daily pain. Â Take back control of your life, one step and day at a time. Don’t let the obstacles or diseases in your way stop you from truly living your best life!
What disease are you battling today? Do you need help coping with it? Do you know who you can turn to (a doctor, pastor, friend, neighbor, teacher, parent, coach)? If not, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you find the resources you need to get on the road to breaking the viscous cycle you are stuck in and on the journey towards hope and healing.
