Ouch

I've seen God do some pretty cool things in my life. For example, giving me MM#1 and MM#2. Another thing He has done has relieved me from the daily pain of rheumatoid arthritis. I still have it...but He has made it so that I'm not on meds or pain meds or anything. Sometimes ( once in a long while) I will have a flare-up. It's not often, usually when I have been on my feet for days on end and just overdoing it. I sometimes forget to thank Him when I wake up in the morning and notice that I am not in any kind of pain. I know what it is to wake up and immediately be in pain...and have it not go away. It's hard, but God has helped me and healed me. When I do have a flare-up, I see it as a sweet reminder of all the days he has given me that are not filled in pain. I take advantage of the days that it doesn't hurt to walk, or run, or open a jar. I take advantage of the mornings I wake up and stretch and have no swollen joints.
So when I do wake up with a flare-up ( like this morning)...when it hurts to bend my fingers or walk on my swollen feet...I thank God that He has been so wonderful as to give me the days when that is not an issue. He uses that time to bring me very close to Him. So, I am not sad when days like this happen. I'm thankful. I use it as a time to draw near to Him and He always takes the pain away. It may take a day...it may take a week. But - He will take it. In the meantime, I enjoy a time that He has given me where I must truly rely on Him for support and strength.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I look back at this verse a lot when I am in pain...because I know that God has allowed me to experience this for a reason. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness...for when I am weak (like today), then I am strong.