{"id":798,"date":"2015-01-07T17:56:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T17:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=798"},"modified":"2021-07-10T20:45:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T20:45:59","slug":"pain-my-one-word-for-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2015\/01\/07\/pain-my-one-word-for-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Pain: My One Word for 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pain [noun]: “the physical feeling caused by disease, injury, or something that hurts the body or : mental or emotional suffering : sadness caused by some emotional or mental problem” \u00a0Merriam-Webster Dictionary <\/em><\/p>\n

\"WinterP-A-I-N!\u00a0\u00a0I definitely did not want this bleak word to start the\u00a0new year.\u00a0Here in Ohio,\u00a0January is bitter cold and the days are\u00a0gray enough. I tried desperately to push the word out of my mind, assured that I was not hearing our heavenly Father\u2019s still small voice clearly.<\/p>\n

My search for my one word for 2015 began in December 2014. I prayed that God would reveal what\u00a0I needed to contemplate in order to grow spiritually and become more like Him.\u00a0At first, it was difficult to accept that a good God would want me to concentrate on the word, \u201cPain.\u201d I wanted nothing to do with dissecting its definition for twelve months. I had to wonder if this was a misguided, self-inflicted masochistic leading like cutting my arm as a teen had been. Or if the all-wise Holy Spirit could possibly desire for me to further investigate this topic.<\/p>\n

\"Seeds<\/a>You see, I know a lot about the pain of mental torment. When I committed my life to Christ in my early 30s, I was a patient\u00a0on a psychiatric ward battling depression and addiction.\u00a0I was desperate for anything that would relieve the anguish. Then in my more than two decades of recovery, I have\u00a0tried to empower others in their journey of finding wholeness from past brokenness, addiction, or abuse. In my book, Seeds of Hope for Survivors, <\/em>I share some of the painful circumstances which I have overcome through God\u2019s grace to enjoy the fulfilling existence that I have today. Speaking and writing about the pathway of spiritual & emotional healing, I have found the true meaning of being a \u201cNew Creation\u201d in Christ. By profession, I am a journalist, a lover of words, but this particular word has always had a terrible emotional connotation.\u00a0Pain\u00a0is a four-letter word that conjures up agony and suffering, and is something I’ve spent my life running from, or trying to overcome.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, I prayed earnestly for confirmation concerning this 2015 word\u00a0of the year suspecting the enemy of my soul\u00a0was sending “Pain” to haunt me one more time. I tried to convince myself that our benevolent Father\u00a0wanted me to have a positive expression like “Believe.” After all, my 2014 word was “Hope.” This past year, I have enjoyed researching Scriptures and even purchasing keepsakes that point to the hope\u00a0we have in our Savior.<\/p>\n

To prove that I was hearing wrong, I turned to my favorite resource regarding the word of the year, “One Perfect Word,” by Debbie Macomber. I was certain the New York Times best selling author would advise folks to never select a negative word. To my surprise, when I randomly opened her book and began reading, my eyes landed on the heading, \u201cChoosing Your Word.\u201d The famous author writes:<\/p>\n

“Sometimes a word will not let you alone –\u00a0 like my word brokenness<\/em>. Who would want to spend a whole year exploring something as depressing as that? I’m an optimist by nature, but I’ve discovered over the years that some of the most profound lessons of life have grown out of pain [there it was again] and struggle….. If the Lord seems to be whispering the word that you’d much rather not even think about I encourage you to embrace it. Prepare for a year of discovery and growth. God will bless your willingness to trust Him for your word.\u201d(Page 72, One Perfect Word by Debbie Macomber<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Even after this serendipitous event of divine intervention, I still wanted to push\u00a0“pain” away. To explain,\u00a0I have spent almost a year and a half battling debilitating physical pain caused by injury and arthritis. Pain that exhausted me, that took every bit of creative energy away, and that made me feel like an old woman before my time.\u00a0I had always promised myself that I would never turn into one of those boring\u00a0individuals who talk only of their physical ailments. Then suddenly, I found myself offering daily reports about the unrelenting pain in my feet, hands, and knees, while discussing doctor visits and surgery. Formerly an athletic individual, I was relegated to life on crutches and\u00a0the couch. I was the one used to ministering to others, and now I was humbled to require assistance for\u00a0daily tasks.<\/p>\n

\"\"I prayed and cried and begged the God who I had always known as\u00a0Healer to restore me to the vibrant woman I had once been. All to no avail, as the physical pain continued, and fear of more\u00a0pain\u00a0increased my anxiety.\u00a0The\u00a0resulting emotional turmoil\u00a0grew so intense that deep depression became a\u00a0battle like it had been in my youth. I had never experienced anything like this. My heart was broken by my diminished existence, and also for all the other folks living daily with chronic pain. The kind of unceasing torment, that can\u00a0ultimately cause you to\u00a0question God\u2019s love for you. Pentecostal by background,\u00a0I did not theologically know how to explain\u00a0pain. Didn’t I have enough faith? Was there sin somewhere in my heart? I knew all these faulty\u00a0questions were not the problem,\u00a0thankfully my non-charismatic brothers and sisters would never even ask them, yet I had watched others who were struggling\u00a0being judged over my years in ministry.\u00a0Even when I was well,\u00a0I never wanted to judge someone suffering, knowing there is\u00a0so much\u00a0we will never understand with our finite mind.<\/p>\n

As I wrestled with\u00a0physical pain, my personality changed too. Like a butterfly who is forming in a cocoon gradually I began to transform into a more gentle human being. Something, my passionate nature and high energy have always prevented. Of course, I did not know this. The pain made me think that I was simply weak and had failed, since I was unable to recognize the person I had become. It was my precious husband who at first was sorely confused by this metamorphosis, but eventually delighted that\u00a0I was no longer the driven individual he had married.<\/p>\n

Finally and miraculously, I am beginning to feel better physically \u2013 more like myself, something I will admit I had almost given up hope of happening. There are a couple permanent limitations like everyone grappling with getting older, but amazingly\u00a0some good days. Sadly though, so many wonderful people\u00a0around me continue to suffer. With my health being renewed, the last thing I want to do\u00a0is to\u00a0think about\u00a0pain, but there is no escaping it. \u201cPain\u201d is\u00a0my one word for 2015 \u2013 the word God wants me to “embrace” as Debbie Macomber suggests, because He obviously has more for me to understand\u00a0about it.\"Christina<\/p>\n

Perhaps, as I reflect upon its meaning, I will learn not to fear it, trusting\u00a0that God` has always been with me in the midst of it. Then in some small way, maybe I will be better able to assist others struggling with spiritual, emotional, or chronic physical pain for which\u00a0there seems to be no remedy. In the end, our Heavenly Father will eradicate all of our pain. Revelation 21:4 NIV says, \u201cHe will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Until that day, it\u2019s up to us to be wounded healers to those we encounter\u00a0who are\u00a0desperate for our Savior’s\u00a0mercy.\u00a0So, \u201cPain,\u201d here I come. In 2015, for the first time in my life, I\u2019m facing you head on.<\/p>\n

Christina Ryan Claypool is an Amy Award winning freelance journalist, Chicken Soup for the Soul contributor, and inspirational speaker. She\u00a0has a Masters in Ministry from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Her website is www.christinaryanclaypool.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pain [noun]: “the physical feeling caused by disease, injury, or something that hurts the body or : mental or emotional suffering : sadness caused by some emotional or mental problem” \u00a0Merriam-Webster Dictionary P-A-I-N!\u00a0\u00a0I definitely did not want this bleak word … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,265,330],"tags":[523,529,128,260,527,29,30,341,530,434,163,524,52,531,147,320,395,391,522,528,525,162,339,119,526,532],"class_list":["post-798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-spiritual-path-on-the-road-less-traveled","category-aging-on-the-road-less-traveled","category-recovery-and-addiction-on-the-road-less-traveled","tag-523","tag-abuse","tag-addiction","tag-aging","tag-arthritis","tag-bible","tag-christian","tag-christianity-today","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-debbie-macomber","tag-emotional","tag-faith","tag-hermenutics","tag-hope","tag-mount-vernon-nazarene-university","tag-one-perfect-word","tag-one-word","tag-pain","tag-pentecostal","tag-physical","tag-recovery","tag-seeds-of-hope-for-survivors","tag-spiritual","tag-surgery","tag-women-in-ministry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}