When Pain Sparks A Prayer

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Have you ever prayed for God to take the pain away? Only to realize He wanted to heal it instead? The night was long, the pain relentless. I couldn't sleep. It was uncomfortable. It was painful. And honestly, I was scared. The pain got so bad that I said, just get rid of it. And that's when God showed me something. Sometimes we don't ask for healing until the pain becomes unbearable.

The Hidden Infection Underneath

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Welcome back to Between the Prayer and the Promise, the space where we talk about what God is doing in us while we're waiting on what He promised to us. Today's conversation is real, y'all. It came from something that I went through physically because God wanted to teach me something spiritually. I recently had an issue with my nail, and I knew something just wasn't right. Come to find out, something was growing silently underneath the surface, an infection. In order to fix it, they had to burn it off. Yes, burn it out. I couldn't run, I couldn't escape. I just had to sit there and feel it. And God said, That's what I do in the spirit. The issue is that it didn't start on the outside, it was growing underneath, and that's the unsettling truth for so many of us, right? We have that hidden hurt, that unacknowledged fear, that unprocessed trauma, that insecurity. It's hidden, but it's actively hurting us. But Hebrews 4 and 13 says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. And knowing that, that's why we have to ask God to search us. Search me, oh God. Know my heart, right? Because God doesn't heal what we conceal, He heals what we currently allow Him to reveal. So I couldn't see y'all. It was uncomfortable, it was painful. And again, I was a little scared. Like, what's going on? Am I gonna lose my finger? But here's the even more deeper, uncomfortable truth. Before it even escalated to this unbearable point, I had already been quietly dealing with it for a while. Isn't that the truth for many of us? We just adjust, we function, we tragically normalize it, we become experts in living in pain. You know, 2 Corinthians tells us that his grace is sufficient for us. But just because God's grace is sufficient, just because he extends it, doesn't mean that he intended us to remain in what is actively hurting us. Some healing doesn't even begin until we finally get tired of simply existing with the pain. And the beautiful thing about this is when we do start to deal with the pain, we have to remember Psalms 34 and 18, that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. So he's close to you today, my friend. Alright.

Delayed Obedience Extends Pain

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So let me just be brutally honest with you all. I was in pain, and I was telling people too. I was like, ooh, my finger hurt. I'm in so much pain. You know, just discussing this. And I'm using this story as an example, right? Because I think it can just relate to so many people, just simply being in pain, right? Physical pain. But I've been in all different types of pain. I've been through a divorce before, I've I've not had children. Naturally, you know, wanting to have children, I've been through bankruptcy, I have lost jobs before. There's been so many things that I've suffered through, right? But I'm today I'm using the story of a physical pain. But I was just telling people and discussing my pain with people, and you know, they were telling me with like genuine concern, you need to go to the doctor. You really should get that checked out. You know what? What you're telling me, it doesn't sound right at all. And even though like everybody was giving me love and advice and saying, you know, Lanise, girl, that sounds like not healthy. I just found myself not saying, no, you know, I'm I'm just gonna try this first, and and and I can deal with it on my own and and I can manage this. You know what I even did? I Googled it. Of course I Googled it, right? Because Google knows everything. And what did Google say? Google said, based on your symptoms, you need to go to the emergency room. And yet, I still adjusted, I still tried to cope. Sometimes, even when we're giving crystal clear directions, even though we see and we know we are stubborn and we choose to sit in our pain. Now I know I can't be the only one. Don't make me feel like I'm the only one who's done this. You know, the Bible says that there are ways that seem right to men, right? And a man, we we we fail because of lack of wise counsel. I got wise counsel, I didn't take it, right? And what seemed right to me, it just wasn't right. God will send people your way, he will send you warning signs. Somebody's listening listening to this today, and this is God speaking directly to you. Don't take this lightly. Don't, you know, I'm I'm smiling and laughing a little bit as I'm sharing this story, but it's it's true, right? This was true pain. This was me really, really God showing me some things through this, and this is a message for you. Delayed obedience is extended pain, right? Delayed obedience is extended pain. We're not stuck because God isn't speaking. We are stuck. Why? Because we are desperately trying to manage what God has told us to surrender, surrender it, my sister, surrender it, my brother. Surrender it, young one, surrender it. God said he can handle it. But thank God the moment came when I finally declared I decided I can't do this anymore. I

The Burn That Prevents Worse

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need help. And so I went to the doctor. Yes, I finally went to the doctor. And the doctor, she explained what she was gonna do, and she pulled out a very, very, very large needle that had this thing that it was like a like an electric type of thing on the end. She was basically gonna burn my my nail, right? And I was really scared then. I was like, Are you gonna stick that through my finger? Oh my gosh. I said, No, I don't want to go through that pain. But I think I this doctor did not sugarcoat it at all. She looked at me in my eye and said, Look, yes, this is going to hurt. But then she said, the pain that you're gonna endure now, it will ultimately relieve the greater pain later because you're in pain now and it's not gonna get better. In fact, if you don't take care of it, it's gonna get worse, and you know, there's gonna be bigger effects to it. So you you need to endure this pain now. She was very real and very honest with me. So I appreciate that. You know, there's a scripture that reminds us that no discipline seems pleasant at the time, right? Nothing seemed pleasant at the time. We know, we know the fire isn't designed to destroy us, it's the it's designed to purify us, right? We have to go through some things and it will purify us. So, you know, I was just thankful and you know, grateful that she was there for me. She sat there with me. Of course, she had to, she was the doctor, but she sat there with me, but she talked through every step as we were going through this process, and so um, she stayed with me, and that presence was very important. It wasn't that she was just doing her job, she was present with me, she was talking me through it, she was encouraging me, she was trying to distract me as she was doing it, she was using all these different methods, and I appreciate that. But this is what I I even got out of that situation, and another truth that God revealed to me in that moment. Just because someone is with you doesn't mean you won't feel it, right? She was there with me, I still had to feel the pain of that needle, I still had to feel the pain of releasing all the pressure and everything that was going on. People will pray for you, right? People will fast on your behalf, people will offer you consistent encouragement, and that support is needed, it's it's invaluable, right? But it doesn't mean, and it doesn't mean you won't have to go through the process, you cannot bypass it, right? You have to go through it, and so I just want to encourage somebody with that. Be grateful for the love and the support, be grateful for even if you're listening to this podcast, the encouragement, God is sending you encouragement, but there are some things that we still have to walk through, we still have to go through and grow through. Amen. But even in that, God reminds us in Isaiah 43 and 2 when you pass through the waters, I will be with you, right? There are some things you just have to go through. You can't skip it, you can't go around it, you can't pray it away, you just have to go through it. You can pray through it, right? But we have to go through it. Yes, the truly amazing thing is that after all this intense process, right? My bodily, my body, excuse me, my body knows how to heal, right? The nail, the nail will grow back, right? And God said, just like your physical body, your physical body, it knows how to heal, your spiritual body, your spirit being knows how to heal as well.

Healing, Restoration, And Closing Prayer

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That's what he told me. That's what I got from this. He's like, so as you're going through this pain or whatever, you're feeling a little down, you're feeling a little sad, you know. Keep praying, keep reminding yourself of the scriptures. You will heal. I will heal you. Again, I remind you that he said he is close to the brokenhearted. And he that began a good work in you, he's going to finish that. God is faithful to finish what he started, right? My nail didn't just vanish into thin air, it is actively growing back stronger and healthier, right? And that, my friends, my listeners, my people who are praying with me and for me, and that I can also pray with. That's a powerful word, right? That is a powerful word. God said, I will restore you. All things work together for the good. What God removes, He restores even better. So I don't know what you may be going through, but I know that God is there with you. We are here with you at this podcast, and I believe that God will continue to surround you around beautiful people that are praying with you, fasting with you, and trusting that God's best is for you. Go through the process, endure, even if it's some pain, endure it and know that this too shall pass, right? This, my friends, is the essence of between the prayer and the promise. It's about sitting in the discomfort with purpose. It's about trusting God through the process, right? It's about allowing Him to remove whatever is unhealthy. And it's about believing in something new, something better, and that something is growing even when we can't see it yet. Dear God, I thank you that when healing begins, Father God Lord, you are there with us. You are ultimately working for us, for the good, Father God, Lord. Grant us the strength to endure whatever we cannot escape. Help us to have faith and trust in you in this process, Father God, Lord. Help us to have patience, Father God, Lord, as we go through this beautiful restoration, Father God, Lord. We thank you, Father God, Lord, for giving us the courage and remind us, Father God, Lord, to lean not to our own understanding, Father God, Lord, but in all our ways to acknowledge you. And you will continue to direct our path. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening. If this episode has touched you or encouraged you, be sure to like, follow, and share. Be blessed.