PAIN; AN ENEMY OF FAITH

Do you know it’s easy to believe that God heals the sick and brokenhearted when you are not the sick or the brokenhearted?

It is also easy to believe that God makes the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk when you are not the blind, the deaf or the lame.

Of course, God raises the dead when you are not the dead.

But I’ll tell you what, when you become the person directly affected by these situations, you'll understand that there's a level of pain that fights faith with all of its resources and at the end shows if you ever truly believed or not.

The truth about pain is that it is an inevitable part of humans’ existence.

HOW DOES PAIN FIGHT AGAINST FAITH?

1. It takes away your happiness: The first thing pain does in anyone’s life is make them unhappy. Of course, the universe does not expect you to stay happy if you’ve been fighting cancer for the past few years or have lost your both parents and siblings in a year. So gradually, you’ll discover that nothing makes you happy anymore, not even jokes that everyone laughs at. Then at some point, this unhappiness grows from the inside and begins to show on the outside: you will no longer care about your appearance or smiling back at people who smile at you. 

2. Then it disconnects you from people who love and care about you: Remember that nothing makes you happy anymore right? At some point, the talkative no longer has anything to say on any matter. You find yourself around people, yet you feel alone. Because of this, you go on to withdraw from people and your WhatsApp and Facebook chats begin to look like an abandoned project after all the unsuccessful hi and hellos people have been sending. Not replying these messages are not really any fault of your own because you are just too tired to keep up with the conversations. As the day goes by, you keep seeing that no one understands your pain so it is pointless talking about it or staying near anyone. You become better off keeping everything to yourself and if you’re someone who is trying so hard to keep up appearances and not look like what you’re going through, you keep the I’m fine default answer ever ready on your lips and most likely, end it with a smile.

3.  Pain keeps you focused on pain: When you’ve successfully gotten to the point of being sad and alone, all your eyes will ever see is pain. In that way, you lose sight of everything that may have been going on well for you. So, you get a new dress or pass an examination and you’re not excited, because these things are nothing compared to what you are going through.

4. Pain waters down your convictions: At this stage, you do more of thinking than talking or associating with people. The sad thing about the thoughts you entertain is that there are thoughts centered on your pain; not even about the solution or how to make it right because many times, the solution does not lie with you. Remember that the only person you’ve managed to stay in touch with is God, but you are not even sure of that anymore. So, you begin to assess people’s testimonies in church and check if they are adding up or not. Then God becomes partial and unkind in your heart but you can’t say it out yet because…. Then your pastor climbs the stage to preach that God is able to do anything, you also read it in your bible, but it no longer sounds true anymore. God no longer sounds true. At least, your pain that has lasted for so long is enough proof.

5. Then it kills you: This death may be physical or not. But at this point, pain successfully takes everything that you’ve lived for away from you and leaves you dry.  

HOW TO KEEP FAITH ALIVE IN PAIN

I come bearing good news. That it is possible for pain not to end your life and for to keep your faith alive even while in pain. 

1. See God: In order to keep your faith alive, you must choose to exalt God above your pain. Trust me, this is not going to be easy because all your pain wants you to see is your pain. So, you must make it a duty to see God daily by praying and studying His word. 

2. Be grateful for little things: You should learn to be grateful for things even as little as being able to wear a smile every day. What this does to you is that instead of spending time to think about your pain and how it has hurt you, you spend time counting your blessings and this gives you HOPE to face each day.

3. Surround yourself with people who love God and love you: If there’s ever a time to run a one- man show in life, it mustn’t be when you are going through hard times. Walking through pain with people who love you will not take away the pain completely, but will give you courage to stay through it and come out stronger.

4. Stay positive: You must surround yourself with things that will make you stay positive. Be careful about your words and the confessions you’ll be making. If it helps, you can post various bible passages that speak to your current situation and remind yourself daily of God’s intention to save and deliver.

Finally, keep your eyes focused on the sun. It doesn’t go out forever. It will surely shine again.

To subscribe to my email list click:

http://eepurl.com/hSzh1v