What we should do is what Martyn Lloyd Jones encourages us to do: preach truth to ourselves rather than listening to the lies in our own heads. That night, I had to preach to my own soul to remind myself that God is with me. I turned to the truth in God’s Word, and flipped to my favorite psalm: Psalm 46.

The Prospect of Lifelong Pain

I’ve had a few seasons of intense suffering. One time I was teaching a seminary class in South Asia and I tripped over a hole in the street, which was terrible for me—with a nerve disorder—when my full weight landed on my left hand and on my right elbow.

I’d fallen a few times in my life, but this was the worst. All I could do in that moment when my nerve was struck was to get up and begin running down the street. I was in shock. My colleague and I changed our dinner plans, went back to the hotel room, I ordered a pizza that was hardly better than the microwave variety, and I laid in my bed in despair.

I reminded myself that God is my refuge and strength, a very-present help in trouble.

All I could think about was that I would probably have intensified pain for days or even weeks. Perhaps my fall had caused further disability and permanent pain that would never go away this side of heaven.

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