Experiencing God in the Midst of Pain

While I was reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love, I ran across one of my favorite life verses:

 

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Psalm 28:7

I encountered this verse during a time of immense pain in my life.  

I was recovering from a 4 hour emergency surgery that involved scraping infection out of my abdominal cavity.  An outpatient surgery gone bad...very bad!  

I went in for a quick laproscopic procedure to take care of endometriosis.  

A week later I found myself, having turned 21 in the hospital, beginning an 8 week road to recovery.

I was in the midst of planning my wedding, a Junior in college tackling 16 hours that semester while working 30 hours a week as a bank teller.  

My crazy, busy life came to a screaching halt.  

All I had on my to-do list was heal.  

I love how God loves us.  

One day in the midst of searing pain, I cried out to God for mercy.  

He gave me Psalm 28:7

I thought about God being my shield. 

 I realized there was no amount of pain I could experience that He hadn't experienced first. 

In fact, the pain went through him as my shield before he ever allowed it to touch me.

After that epiphany, I knew God and I were in this thing together and together we would walk through it.

Although it was a long 8 weeks, I look back on that time with tenderness and gratitude.

Pain is such a peculiar thing.  

I have feared pain.  

I have endured pain.

Now, I'm trying to learn to embrace it.  

 

Some lessons in life can only be learned in the midst of pain.  

 

And these are the lifelong lessons we remember forever.