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A Simple Treatment for the Sting of Pain

A simple but effective way to handle the pain of circumstances. -christyfitzwater.com

It’s June, but I’m working feverishly to be more prepared for next year’s Spanish classes, so I was looking up vocabulary that had to do with Thanksgiving. Made myself hungry –turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy.

Doesn’t help that I’m writing this blog post at 5:12 p.m.

To the vocab list I added the Spanish words for “blessing”, “gratitude”, and “prayer”, as well as the verb phrase “to give thanks”.

Those words took me back to 6:30 this morning when I woke up to a mental re-run of some cares that had weighed on me the day before. All that day I had prayed and labored over those concerns. Repeatedly I had said, Lord, I don’t know what to do with these.

In my Spanish morning devotion (from GMG Español), the author gave instructions. Give thanks for the aguijón, she said. Aguijón means thorn. It also can mean the stinger of a wasp.

Some situations hurt when they jab your flesh, and then they stick around to swell and cause prolonged pain.

Thank God for it, the writer said. Ask him how he can be glorified in the situation.

I never think to do this simple act.

Why do I never think to say, Thank you this has happened to me, Lord. I’m better at words like Why? and How long? and Why? But I did it this morning -said thank you. It soothed the inflamed place in my soul, like cool baking soda on a bee sting.

“I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.” (Psalm 111:1 NASB)

And so it’s Thanksgiving in June.

Minus the mashed potatoes.

4 Comments

  1. Thiệu-Tiết says:

    How do I email this timing article to a sweet young friend who’s struggling badly?

    Thank you for this gentle and needed reminder.

    1. You can highlight the article name in your search bar, copy it, and paste it into the email.

  2. Hi Christy,

    The Lord led me here and this article just jumped out at me. My family and I are having many “thorns” right now and they are all being thrown at the same time. Your words are so refreshing… how true that we need to give thanks no matter what season of life we are in! Thank you for writing this and touching my heart!

    1. Doesn’t it seem like sometimes everything hard comes at once? I’ve continued to work on giving thanks for those hard things, since writing that blog post, and I feel so much more peaceful. I’m glad you were encouraged -thanks for writing to me! May the Lord encourage your family during this hard time.

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