Thursday, December 1, 2011

Pain

I know that we learn best by experience, but why does pain have to be a part of it all? Pain is just so painful that I would rather stay away from it all together. But, pain is a necessary part of life. We learn to avoid things that bring pain and we also have an opportunity to feel God's love for us. Yeah, I just said that! Pain helps us to feel God's love in a whole different way.
Let me share with you an experience that I had with pain and how it helped me.
I had a sickness a while ago that really affected me. I lost a lot of weight and my stamina was all but gone. I constantly had head aches that just wouldn't go away. This kept going for a long time until one day when I was rushed to the hospital. If I can remember anything from that night, it was pain.
As I lay there on a hospital bed going through the worst pain I had ever experienced, I just remember this over whelming feeling that I would be alright.
I stand today as a witness that God does comfort His children in every circumstance. The scripture in      Alma 7:11-12 puts it best. He felt our pain and he knows our afflictions. He has suffered them all.
Pain can bring us closer to God because it humbles us. It is hard to go through such things, but we always learn from it. Death can be very difficult for family members. It is hard and we will miss them so much but we must remember that Jesus Christ broke the bands of death.We will see our loved ones again and we can rely on the knowledge that Christ felt our grief.
He knows what each one of us goes through and we can receive comfort if we will seek it through prayer.