Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A man's spirit sustains him

Which pain is worse is the subject of my devotion today. Emotional or physical? Like you I've faced both, I am currently dealing with bursitis in my hip. Some days I can distract myself and the pain fades into my distraction. Other days the pain sits (no punt intended) on the front burner and no matter what position or way I walk or move will ease the pain.
some days I deal with both, crushing physical pain with no position in which I can get comfortable, crushing heartache in which my head spins with grief and I can't get away from the pain.
While physical pain can be distracted, inside suffering is another matter. You can't put mental anguish or heartache behind you. Those hurts create an emptiness that refuses to be pushed or crowded out of your thoughts. It bites, gnaws, grinds away at your sanity.
Feeling like your heart has been stomped on; your feelings have been trampled. A slandered reputation, a love relationship spurned...painful memories of abuse. I am convinced emotional pain is much worse than physical pain. But I am also convinced it does something to our heart that physical pain often cant'. Inner anguish melts the heart, making our souls pliable and bendable. Because we can't drive it from our thoughts, hopefully it will force you to embrace God out of desperate, urgent need.

A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Proverbs 18:14