I've always heard people say, "I wish I could take your pain for you." I've even said it myself at times. These last few weeks I've been experiencing times where I've prayed for someone and then I would take on their pain. I didn't pray specifically for the Lord to give it to me but I did pray for them to have relief from their pain. Immediately after praying for an elderly lady with a severe headache I had one. (I don't know whether hers went away or not.) Then there was another time where Doc had a pain in his neck after he did something to it. I was praying continually for him to have relief and my neck started hurting for no reason. Another time was yesterday when I was praying throughout the day for one with neck pain. Later in the evening I started experiencing neck pain for no reason. I say "for no reason" but perhaps the Lord is giving the people I pray for relief and I actually take on their pain. I don't understand this but I do believe the Lord has His Hand in it. He knows my tolerance for pain is great. He also knows when I'm not the one in the situation of pain it is easier for me to deal with. A few weeks back I was with one in the ER with severe back pain. That morning she had sent Doc a text saying she had prayed for him. After testing, there was no explainable reason for her back pain. A few hours later Doc passed one of the biggest kidney stones he ever has passed and he passed it with NO pain. Did the Lord give his pain to her?
II Corinthians 1:3-7 reads....
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
As I read this scripture, I thought about how the Lord has brought me through so many physical trials. So much pain. So much agony. MS, two lower back surgeries, two cervical surgeries...just to name a few. He has comforted me through everything. He uses my past to enable me to minister to others who have been through the same circumstances. Is He also using my past with my physical ailments on another level besides praying for them? Is He using my circumstances to allow me to take on people's pains? I don't know but I do know I have given Him my whole life for whatever He desires of me. Therefore, if pain is part of the process then pain it will be. He has relieved pain in my body many times. Maybe I am living out the end of verse four. "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for always being there to comfort me in times of need. Father, as I am praying for ones with physical ailments I get the sense that You are taking my prayers one step further. Lord, I don't understand the situations I've already experienced but I do know I am Your Servant and am ready to do whatever You put before me. Lord, when the time comes again for me to take on someone's pain I pray for Your Strength in abundance. I pray for You to not only give me Your Strength but I also pray for You to make the individual aware what You are doing for them. Lord, this concept is strange but yet it shouldn't be because You are the God Almighty, Creator of all. Nothing should be strange when it comes to what You do. Lord, thank You for being My Director. Amen.
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