This post is in response to an article shared with me by a good friend. The other posts in this series are The Experience of Pain; Pain in our Culture; Hard-heartedness; and Suffering and Character. Emlet asks the question, “What is your ultimate goal in dealing with chronic pain? Is it to remove pain? Or to redeem pain? Is it to take away pain? Or to transform pain? Or is it a little of both?” On the redemption of pain, I am completely with him. This is exactly what makes un

This post is in response to an article shared with me by a good friend. The other posts in this series are The Experience of Pain; Pain in our Culture; Hard-heartedness; and The Redemption of Pain. Suffering and character Suffering shapes our character, in line with the three responses outlined in the post on hard-heartedness. Suffering may make us hard, as a result of our hardness on ourselves. When we choose this option, we become like the Pharisees, rigid in the face of su

This post is in response to an article shared with me by a good friend. The other posts in this series are The Experience of Pain; Pain in our Culture; Suffering and Character; and The Redemption of Pain. One of the things that struck me most when reading the article was the impact on me of seeing my experience through a sympathetic outsider’s eyes. I’m used to seeing my life through the eyes of people or groups who don’t believe me; who think that I, along with many other pe

This post is in response to an article shared with me by a good friend. The other posts in this series are The Experience of Pain; Hard-heartedness; Suffering and Character; and The Redemption of Pain. Emlet says, “some cultures expect suffering and learn not to fear it; other cultures suffer less but fear it more.” My defences immediately raise! I don’t want to consider that I make my suffering worse through inappropriate fear. I think the issue is more subtle than that – cu

A good friend recently asked my opinion on an article on a Christian response to pain. This and the next four blog posts have come from my reflections as I read the article. The others are on Pain in our Culture, Hard-heartedness, Suffering and Character, and The Redemption of Pain. The experience of pain Pain itself can be an intensely isolating experience; there is no reference point for pain outside of one’s self, which makes it difficult to know whether a person – includi

I’ve been talking a lot with my family recently about appropriate responses to suffering. One of the most common responses I’ve come across is “You need to find out what God is trying to teach you through this.”  Sometimes it’s true.  God does discipline us, so it may be that he is encouraging us to address a specific issue in our life.  He may want us to develop perseverance through the testing of our faith.  He may want us to develop character and hope. Sometimes it’s even