Our Pain Affects Others

My beautiful wife cries often wishing she could help me. My son has to step up and do some things when I am not physically able to. They both deal with my emotions when I am experiencing intense pain. My coworkers that care about me know when I need them to just leave me alone for a bit. My worship pastor and technical director have to deal with me being “chippy” when I am hurting.

Everyone around us is affected when we are hurting so bad that it becomes our focus. So what do we do? Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Have someone that you can talk to about working through the emotions. A friend, family member, pastor, or a professional counselor.
2. Take a deep breath. Seriously! I am not talking about some mystical breathing exercise. I mean take a minute to breathe. I have some plants in my cubicle at work and I admire them and look for new growth. This helps me refocus when the pain is “too much”
3. Read. A good book helps you to focus on something else for a moment. Let your imagination take you somewhere other than your current painful place.
4. Listen to music. At work I am mostly in front of a computer all day. My pain makes it hard to focus at times. I place my headphones on a turn up some music to relax me. Note: that doesn’t mean you have to listen to “easy listening” music. My favorite focus music mix includes artists like Skillet, Red, NF, and others. Whatever genre will help you to refocus, make a playlist and listen. 

Bottom line… we have to realize and admit that our pain affects others. We have to be aware and make every attempt not to hurt others, just because we are hurting. It is not their fault!

Take time today to focus on how you can allow your pain to be a reminder of how important it is for you to grow in this. In John 17:15 Jesus prayed for us, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” Sometimes our pain is a part of the lesson while we are here on planet earth. If we allow our pain to be a testimony instead of just a story, He will be honored and others will see it.

Escaping the Bath Tub

Waking up in pain and not wanting to get out of bed. Welcome to a normal day. Many of us that suffer from chronic pain deal with this decision every day. Some days it is a physical struggle, but most it is a psychological struggle. Your body is capable of getting up, but your mind is so tired of hurting. You just want to give up. Chronic pain causes more than just physical discomfort; it causes you to act out in ways you might not normally. It is inner torture. I described it recently this way:

“Chronic pain is like torture. Like when they would put a prisoner in a bath tub and slowly drip water on their forehead to try to get them to talk. Chronic pain is like that bath tub you cannot escape from “ 

I pray that most reading this have not experienced that type of pain for a prolonged period. For those of us who have, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, etc. have become all too familiar.

The American Psychological Association (apa.org) says, “Pain serves an important purpose by alerting you to injuries such as a sprained ankle or burned hand. Chronic pain, however, is often more complex. People often think of pain as a purely physical sensation. However, pain has biological, psychological and emotional factors. Furthermore, chronic pain can cause feelings such as anger, hopelessness, sadness and anxiety. To treat pain effectively, you must address the physical, emotional and psychological aspects.” I agree with this! It is our responsibility to talk about all aspects with someone.

In the Bible Paul describes some type of chronic pain as a “thorn in the flesh”. Sounds pretty messed up, but here is his response.

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But 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. 10 That 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.— 2 Cor. 12:7-9 NIV” www.biblegateway.com

I underlined and italicized a key part for us. His grace, not how I feel. His grace, not what my mind is telling me. His grace, not what others think. His grace is sufficient. It is hard to lean on Jesus in times like this, but I really think we have no choice. This is a battle in our hearts, minds and body. As we look at dealing with our chronic pain, I pray that we all see His perfect will in it. I also pray for healing, we will discuss this further as well. 

Tomorrow is Sunday, go worship Him!

One way to help with chronic pain… rescue an animal

I want to introduce to you … Jake the dog.

Jake is known in our house as; Dude, Jakeimus Maximus, or Mr. Jake. He is the son of a rescue that we adopted late last year. His mom, Layla, is now in another home and happy as she can be.

Jake loves to fetch. When he and I are out in the yard he helps me to learn to throw left handed.

 When we are laying on our favorite chaise lounge chair he helps me by comforting me.

He loves to give “kisses”, otherwise known as slobbering your entire face. He is officially our third rescue and I can honestly say our entire family loves him. So, one way to help with chronic pain… rescue an animal! Any animal! If you like cats, then a cat. If you like birds, snakes, reptiles, whatever; get out and get a companion animal. They help you by making you get up and move. They also help by comforting you when you don’t feel so well.

Since tomorrow’s post will be heavy, I thought we needed a break.

2016 Between now and OK

Disclaimer: Not a pity seeking post!

I posted about the promise God gave me in an earlier post (https://michaelmyrickblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/between-now-and-ok.html). So let me follow up with that.

I am currently in “between now and OK”. After my surgery I soon realized that many of the nerves to my neck, shoulder and arm were affected. I experienced mild to extreme pain daily. I kept telling my wife, son and myself that it would go away over time. I prayed for it to go away, asked others pray, and continued to believe it would subside. I took the medicines the doctor prescribed, only to find that I walked around in a fog. Fast forward to now, 3 ½ cancer free years later.

I got up yesterday and had a hard time moving my right arm. When you go to the doctor they ask you to rate your pain from 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 means to go the hospital. As I drove myself to work I began to cry. Yes, a grown man driving down the interstate crying! I could not help it; the pain was at a 10.  Many of you would ask, “why did you not go the hospital?” Well honestly, there is nothing they can do. This happens multiple times a week and I have to get it together before getting to work. After all, I drive a stick shift and it just so happens that I have to shift with my right arm. The pain also makes it difficult to get ready some mornings. Many of my friends ask how I am doing and of course I tell them I am doing “fine”. After all no one wants to hear about my pain all the time, although if my wife is around she will not let me get away with that. I don’t and won’t let the pain stop me from doing much, but I have started to learn my limitations.

So why am I sharing about my pain now? I want others to realize that no matter what pain you are in or what type of pain, Jesus is there to hold you and let you cry. He understands when we get mad about it and sometimes raise our voice at Him. He has no problem with the “why”, because He will help you to understand.

In other posts I will talk about the extreme emotional side of chronic pain. That subject may have to be multiple posts.