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Substituting Praise for
Pain
Sometimes it seems as if the whole world comes crashing in on you at once. My husband’s back problem threatened to leave him a helpless cripple. My father-in-law died. Benji, our firstborn, hemorrhaged and was facing surgery. Then it happened . . . A blowout forced me to the side of the road. I remember bending down to fit the jack, and the next thing I knew, I was picking myself up from down the embankment. Someone had sideswiped my car. Not until a couple hours later did the pain hit—excruciating, nauseating pain shot down from my shoulder through my body, leaving my head throbbing. “Probably just a pulled muscle,” the doctor said. A couple weeks later I became incapacitated with pain spasms so severe that I’d lose consciousness. I was hospitalized for a month, then bedridden at home for six months with pain so intense that I almost existed on morphine. Later a doctor in Edmonton said he’d never seen such a severe reverse whiplash and exclaimed, “You should have been killed instantly!” I owe my life to being in peak physical condition. My body simply bent instead of breaking! But as a result of the stress on my system I had come down with Fibromyalgia, a disease that now forces me to live in constant pain. At first I fought it, became depressed, and felt a burden to my family. My negative attitude put a chasm between me and God. But as I began to read and pray, I came to realize that I was responsible for my own health and happiness. I needed to accept my condition and live life within my limits. My worth was not tied to my works. I believe God is in the process of healing me. I may never be free of pain. The miracle is that He is giving me an attitude of praise that supersedes the pain. When I begin to count my blessings—when I focus on praising Him—I don’t notice the pain.
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