Words from Sergeants who lovingly punished us during our physical training sessions, from the personal trainer who gets a kick out of watching you sweat and strain, from the latest and greatest workout video you bought through an infomercial.

Some days I wish those were some of the things I was encountering.  Lately it has been some pretty intense back pain that no only permeates my physical body, but also my mental state.  With the pain comes the challenge of keeping up the smiles and an image of “everything is A-OK”.

Some might say that this would be the time you need to turn to God and ask Him to help you deal with the pain.  I can agree with this up to a certain point.  As we are human we do have emotions and do feel the pain at differing levels.

So of course I am going to pose a question and it is this; “How am I supposed to approach God as it pertains to pain?”  Just when I think of asking God for help with the pain I think back to what the Bible tells us about what Jesus went through.  How can I possibly ask God for relief when he gave His own son for me in the most painful way possible?

I am in no way saying that we should not ask God for help in these situations, but should the request be more about thanks, than relief?  What I know from the Gospel is that through our suffering and sacrifice good things will come.  For whatever God’s reason I must go through this and through this I will learn or someone else will benefit.  My prayer is to simply be obedient.

Ultimately, I do believe that God’s plan is at work and where I fit in will be revealed to me when it is my time to fulfil my part.  Until then, it will be prayer, meditation in the Word and trying share Christ whenever and wherever possible.  Always forward…