JONI: Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and today we’re talking about chronic pain.
Thanks for listening, and the last time we met, we heard from my young friend, Brittany Volpei, who is 28 years old and deals with complex regional pain syndrome. Just what is CRPS, as it’s called? Well, we all experience pain, maybe after an injury or a surgery. But chronic regional pain syndrome happens when the pain from that injury or surgery just doesn’t go away; it doesn’t get better. CRPS is a malfunction of the nervous system in which the little switches that turn off pain signals go haywire. Well, yesterday, Brittany shared a little bit about dealing with her long-term “it never seems to get better” kind of pain. Listen to what she says.
BRITTANY: I think that I have learned so much from this. I’ve really learned that this life is not about me so if this is it, if this is my life, this is my life with pain; how will I glorify the Lord in it?
JONI: Brittany, surely you have thought about miraculous healing. What are your thoughts on that?
BRITTANY: I’ve never thought that the Lord would heal me in one miraculous touch. I’ve always had the sense that my healing would come slowly and over time, but the Lord has promised me a verse from Joel 2:25, a prophetic verse, “That He will repay the years the locust have eaten.” But early on in my journey everything that I did was pain mediation, and my whole day was spent battling pain or thinking about how to battle pain, and that healing became an idol and I didn’t realize it, and this really bitter root had taken over. And in that I really dethroned the Lord in my heart, and then when healing didn’t come I got really mad at the Lord and I dealt with some really severe anger for a few years, all stemming from idols. I learned that both God and anger cannot be served at the same time, but it was a really hard lesson to learn and took a really long time. The way that I really feel that I got freedom from that was in prayer one day. I was encouraged by a friend to ask the Lord, ‘Lord, how do you see me?’ And I really didn’t expect to get a picture or an image or a word or anything. We’re never taught that we are to ask the Lord questions like that, and He is eager to tell us and to speak to us, but I asked and I got this picture of a bride, and it was me as the bride, and I was standing at the altar and the Lord was the bridegroom and He was walking to me. In that image I just felt the love of God and His love that transcends my pain and that He had so much value for me and my life that He created me; even if I never have healing, that my life has that value.
JONI: Wow! Thank you. You know, I remember when we first met that you expressed that desire to understand God’s purpose for your pain. Well, Brittany, one purpose is that you have been able to transfer to our friends listening your wisdom, God’s wisdom. Helping us approach our own problems with that same can-do outlook from God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Brittany for joining us today.
BRITTANY: Thank you so much.
JONI: Friend listening, you may not be dealing with something as serious as complex regional pain syndrome, but I sure hope Brittany’s confidence in God and in His Word has bolstered your spirits should you be dealing with aches and pains. And if you are, or if you know someone who is struggling with it, please visit my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and ask for your free copy of “Pain and Providence”. It’s filled with Biblical insights as well as some really practical helpful hints on how to manage pain. Again, it’s called “Pain and Providence” and you find it on my radio page today at joniandfriends.org.
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