Have you ever noticed an egg? Thought much about its design? On the outside is a shell. A shell that seems hard to the touch, yet it doesn’t take much to crack it open, break it. One knock on the side of a bowl or a drop on the counter and…”splat”! The egg is broken wide open. 

Recently my husband and I have been experiencing a season of health problems and physical pains. This is the first time we have walked this road as a couple. It has been challenging. Our bodies are like an egg shell. They seem hard and durable on the outside however it takes just one thing, one knock and we are down. 

In this season I have both cried out to God asking Him to take it all away and asked Him to help me learn and grow in this pain. I don’t understand it though I am learning I don’t need to. I need to trust. Trust that our Almighty God has a good plan, the best plan in mind for us. Yes, our bodies are weak. Our bodies are fragile. And somehow even though we have these shells, life is not about them. 

Life is abundant in a place beyond our shell exterior. Life is better lived inside, in the deeper places.

Physical pain is part of our journey at some time or another. None of us can escape physical pain. I see more clearly now it is not about what the physical pain is that I have to endure it is about how I am going to deal with it. Am I going to curse God? Or will I lean farther, trust greater that He loves me and is good to me? Will I crack open and become a changed woman or will I break in pieces and refuse to ever mend? 

Life is full of choices. Even in our physical pain…a place that feels far out of our control, we have a choice. A choice to learn, to grow. Or a choice to break open, become bitter and take others down with us. A choice to make. 

The next time physical pain comes, what are you going to choose? 

While Job suffered greatly and felt horribly confused he never denied God. He did not let the pain take God off the throne of his life. 

 

Job 42:12a So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. NLT

Romans 5:3-5  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ESV

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ESV

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJV