God's Grace is all I need

Headaches are no fun. Thanks to my little brain explosion of a couple of weeks ago, I have had a headache that the doctors say will be around for a couple of more weeks. They have given me drugs to make them go away, and the drugs work…. a little. For the most part, I have come to this conclusion: headaches are just no fun at all.

When you have a headache like mine, little noises sound like a drum and bugle corps is marching through your brain. And sometimes bright lights even hurt your brain. And sometimes when the headache is really, really bad you think “Hmm, I wish I could just cut my head off and I will feel much better.” Of course, I know that cutting off my head would probably not be the wisest decision of my life and might cause a few other complications. So, instead of losing my head, I lay quietly in bed hoping, hoping, hoping that the pain in my brain will somehow reach the level of a jackhammer and thereby become somewhat manageable.

I have prayed, “Lord is there some great lesson I can learn from my headache?” He has given no earth shattering revelations.

I have prayed, “Lord, will this help me better understand the pain others experience?” While I am sure that it will, He has neither confirmed nor denied this truth.

Why share with you this part of my journey? Some of you might be dealing with pain too. And simply because Jesus is our Lord and Savior and Redeemer and Friend does not mean that all pain has henceforth been eliminated from our lives. Sometimes when we are struggling with pain or with life, it’s not easy. I chose to use the word “struggling” in the previous sentence on purpose. Sometimes life can be a struggle. Sometimes it’s hard to smile and say, “Yippee! Yahoo! Everything is great!” when things aren’t so great. Faith is not plastering a phony smile on your face and saying: “Everything is great, when your head feels like the drums in an Ozzy Ozbourne concert and you know good and well that everything is far from great.” Faith sometimes is saying, “I have a great headache, but I have a greater God.” Or “I have a great problem or I have great trouble, but I have a far greater God.” You see, I know this: The God who spared my life and sustains my life and graces my life with His presence will see me through this day. I will trust him. I will rejoice in Him. I will not give in to the temptation that denies a loving and faithful God.”

Paul had an issue that he called “a thorn in his flesh” (read all about it in 2 Corinthians 12). Three times he told us he prayed that God would remove this thorn and three times God said, “Nope!” Oblivious to all HIPAA and privacy laws, Bible scholars have ever since debated what exactly his “thorn” might have been. They have guessed and surmised and suggested everything from bad vision to depression to gout. I certainly don’t want to add to the pool of guesses and I don’t want Paul to file a lawsuit for invasion of his privacy when I get to heaven’s courts, so I won’t make a guess as to what Paul’s thorn might have been. But this I know: Whatever God does with my pain, like Paul, I want to come to the conclusion that God’s grace is all I need. I want to focus on the greatness of God’s grace rather than the greatness of my troubles.

You see, God did not promise us a pain free, trouble free, never-a-problem life, but he did promise to be with us. He promised that even when I walk through the “valley of the shadow of death” (that sounds like a very bad place, doesn’t it?) even in that very bad place, we need not fear because he is with us (see Psalm 23). So I will not fear. I will trust. I will hold on to the fact that He is taking care. And I will proclaim loud and long that God’s grace is sufficient for me.

When you have a very bad day or a very bad headache or a very bad thorn in your flesh, I pray that you will say the same thing: God’s grace is all I need!