Ow, Ow, Ow

I had a dental procedure last week that resulted in a great deal of pain, which has been my main focus over the last 8 days. An interesting thing about tooth pain is how pervasive it is. If your leg hurts, you try to avoid walking on it, prop it up, put a heating pad on it perhaps. If your stomach hurts, you may eat soothing foods or take some Pepto or Tums to help the problem. If your head hurts, you close your eyes, massage your temples, take a nap even. If your teeth hurt, you.....suffer. There really is very little you can do to stop the pain. They did give me pain meds, but it wore off every 3-4 hours, setting up a vicious cycle. Heat, cold, eating, starving....nothing really helps. Sleep only comes in 3 hour increments as the medication waxes and wanes. The pain in my mouth eventually caused enough stress that I got savage headaches along with pain in the entire right side of my face. By the time I went back to the dentist a week later to ask for help, I was sleep deprived, short-tempered, quick to cry, and generally pitiful. The constant onslaught of pain had really worn me down.

When you are in a lot of pain, it becomes your main focus. It's nearly impossible to concentrate on anything else. It's hard to care about anything else. It turns your focus inward, toward yourself. All you care about is making the pain stop. It doesn't matter that you have a million things to do, a family to care for, a job to finish.....the pain stays at the forefront of your mind, using up your attention, energy, and patience.

My pain was physical, and relatively short-lived. I know there are so many people suffering from long-term severe pain. I know people who are suffering physically, emotionally, and mentally. My heart hurts for them, and for the way pain is relentless. Whether it comes from a physical ailment or loss of a loved one or depression, the pain is very real and it negatively affects the quality of life.

One of the things I noticed while in pain is that, having a medical background, I look for concrete things to reduce the pain. I had medication, I tried heat, I tried salty water, I even tried Yarrow plant, which was a lot like chewing slightly minty grass and not especially pleasant. It wasn't until I was reduced to tears, laying in bed and ready to dissolve that I would remember to ask the Great Physician for help. I had a number of friends send messages that they were praying for me, and it would prompt me to pray for me too. During this time, I realized that I am quick to send up prayers for others, and yet, I fail to ask for help for myself. This is not some noble trait where I don't want to bother God over my needs. Rather, it is a failure on my part to trust him and to turn to him first. It is not wrong for me to try other methods to help, but it is wrong when I turn to them exclusively, or when I go to God as a last resort.

The other thing that really hit home with me during this minor trial in my life was how important it was for others to pray. When I couldn't think through the pain to pray for help, others did it for me. As I think back over the hardest times in my life, I know that having people praying carried me. When Tim was a tiny mite and was in the hospital with pneumonia, though they didn't yet know what it was, I called on friends to pray, because I couldn't even think of words to say. When my grandmother died and my heart was crushed, friends held me up with their prayers. When my dad was so very sick in the hospital and I was terrified I might lose him, the prayers of many sustained me. Knowing that people were lifting me up made all the difference.

Pain, regardless of the type or cause, fear, anxiety...they all take our focus off God and turn it inside. The remedy is prayer. We have to remember to go to God first for our needs. And we need to remember how important it is to pray for others in need, and to let them know you are lifting them up. It can make all the difference in the world.