No Bad Days – Just Hard Ones

BY JOYCE PELLETIER

​“Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing. Lord, you have assigned me my portion and cup, you have made my lot secure.” 
​Psalm 16:1-2, 5
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After seeking help to relieve the serious back pain I’ve been having, the doctor ordered a bone scan to figure out what is really going on in my back. I’d been through one before, yet I went in with an attitude of piece of cake. I just have to lay on the table for a while while they take pictures and it will reveal what is wrong. I was thankful it was not an MRI. They are so confining, something I detest.

The test requires that your arms are up over your head for 35 minutes. Didn’t sound so bad. After about 15 minutes, I was really feeling the pain in my shoulders. It was so difficult. I didn’t know how I’d get through. I laid there for several moments and in my heart, I heard, “I know your pain!” The words filtered through my whole being for several minutes. I so wanted to get off that table. I’m thinking, “Lord, this hurts! If I could just move my shoulders!” again I heard, “I know your pain”.

This went on for a bit. After hearing this several times, I started to pray. I repeated the words in my head and heart, then suddenly I heard myself whisper several times, “He knows my pain!” I realized that God was talking to my heart. I breathed that phrase, “He knows my pain!” until finally I heard “And, I know His!”

It was a lesson that showed me that this was not a “bad day” because I was going through this difficult pain to figure out what is really wrong with the severe back pain I’ve been having. It truly was a “hard day”, one with lessons of trust. He truly knows my pain, and for some strange reason, he allowed me to experience this so that I could know His pain on the Cross. As I prayed, it became a time of grace, because so many times when the pain gets difficult, He reminds me that this is not a “Bad Day!” But it is a “Hard Day", that will teach you a deeper meaning of how much he knows my pain in everything I experience. In this, I know I’ll get through this pain in my life. We aren’t promised perfectly painless days, but we are promised that when those tough days happen, we are not alone, "He knows our pain!” I challenge you to look at a “Bad Day” and turn it to a “Hard Day!” Ask God to show you the difference.