Lessons From a Hernia: Day 4

This past weekend we had something weather wise that is not often seen in East Tennessee.  The Lord saw fit to cover the beautiful fall foliage and the ground with a pristine blanket of white.   The colors stood out and the ground was quieted.  Two seasons came together in one.  Our lives are made up of seasons, too.  Sometimes it’s a season of joy and sorrow all mixed together in one.  Today, I am sharing the last lesson of this weekly series of what the Lord has been doing in my life through hernia surgery, through this season of my life.

Lesson #4:  Seasons of pain prepare us for the days ahead.

As I look back over my life, and I have more earthly years in my “rearview mirror” than I do out the front window, I am able to point out painful, growth markers.  These are times that God chose to send pain into my life to set me aside to teach me about Himself and me.  Some of those markers were . . .

• The stillbirth of our daughter, Ashley Marie
• Hernia surgery on the right side
• Cancer and subsequent death of my parents
• A detached retina in my left eye requiring surgery
• Hernia surgery on the left side

I could mention other trials because life is full of them, but the aforementioned are definite times in my life when God did some deep plowing in my heart.  These were seasons of pain . . .

• to teach me some wonderful truths from His Word
• to correct some things in my life
• to show me something of Himself
• to set a course of action in my personal life, home and/or ministry
• to turn my longings from earth to Heaven

None of us like pain, but I can truthfully say that God has used it to do some blessed things in my life.  Psalm 119:71 says, It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I may learn thy statues.  I have written in my Bible beside that verse, “2-16-03 Preached this passage as a result of what God taught me through Dad’s death.”  Even as I type this, the pain of my hernia is biting me.  Life is hard, but God is good.  “Thank You, Lord, for this pain.  Looking forward to how You are going to work in the days ahead.”