Pain. Ice. Is There More?

Pain. Ice. Pain. Ice. Pain. Ice. Pain. Ice. Seems like those are the only two things I feel these days. I lift my arm: pain. I shrug my shoulders: pain. A pat on the back: pain. Touch, feeling, ANYTHING: pain. Shoulder pain: ice. Back pain: ice. I've forgotten what it's like to wake up in the morning and not be in pain. I've grown accustomed to my condition. It's normal to hurt. It's normal to be tense. It's all just a part of things. Five months I've been here. Five months I've heard people claim they'll fix me. I've heard more solutions than I can imagine. I've been told that I have a screwed up shoulders. I've been told that my upper body is weak. I've been told that my back looks like I was in a car wreck. I've been told a lot of things, the one thing I'm lacking is a solution. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hopeful...sorta. It's just hard to be optimistic when you're sore, tired, and (literally) sick.
I've been mulling over the verses Romans 5:3-5. "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...." These verses were written on a coin my dad threw at me one night. (No, I'm not kidding, he chucked it at me and it hurt!) Mulling over these verses, I decided to look up some key words. Rejoice: "to be glad; take delight". Sufferings: (well, I looked this one up and all they said was talking about things that suffer. Don't you love when the definition uses the word of unkown meaning in the definition?) I found some good synonyms: torture, torment, agony. Do you see a contradiction so far? I'm glad to be in agony? Huh? But wait. There's more. Our sufferings produce perseverance. Perseverance: "steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. " Now this is interesting...Hard times help us to overcome more hard times. Cool? I think so. Hold on, perseverance produces character. Character: "qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity". Hmmm...I'm liking this so far. But God isn't done yet! Character produces hope. Hope: (I like this definition) "to believe, desire, or trust". Now hope intrigues me the most. Could it be that hope is to believe God, desire His Will, and trust Him to lead us through? Sounds about right to me. And best of all, hope does not disappoint us. Disappoint: "to fail to fulfill the expectations or wishes of". Now we've hit on something! HOPE, as we defined before: to believe God, to desire His Will, and to trust Him to lead us through will NEVER fail to to fulfill the expectations or wishes of us. Now, we have to realize that God may not always do what we want, but in the end HIS plan exceeds our expectations.
Are you encouraged at all? I hope so, because I am encouraged after writing this. I've clung to these verses in the midst of my trials, but this is the first time I really dug into them. I love Scripture. I love how you can dig into it and find something no one else has. There's always something new and encouraging to see. We have an amazing God, don't we? I challenge you, if you're going through a rough time right now, cling to scripture. It doesn't have to be this particular scripture, but anything that catches your interest. Break it down into bite-size pieces and see what God teaches you. You may be surprised.
All I felt when I began this post was pain and ice. Now I feel warmth and encouragement. I feel God beside me, running this race with me. I'm not alone. Not that I ever was, but now I'm reminded. So, today, my final challenge to you is to believe God, desire His Will, and trust Him to lead you through.