Self-control

Self-control: Aches and Pains Essential Oil Blend

Pain… This single word stirs up memories inside all of us. For most, the memories are accompanied by fear. In today’s society, we have become accustomed to fearing pain and suffering. We try to escape it as quickly as possible by grabbing hold of anything that seems capable of soothing us. Yet I have once read a book on leprosy that explained pain and especially the ability to feel pain as being a great privilege. Imagine we had no pain as a warning system to tell us when something in our bodies were going wrong. We would not know to remove our hand from the fire if it was not for pain. This book impacted my view on pain greatly. At the same time, I also saw the extreme suffering my husband had to endure because of pain. I had pondered suffering many times in the past. Perhaps you too have wondered about the worth of pain and hardship countless times.

One day I had a revelation from Hebrews 5:7–10, bringing a great sense of clarity about suffering in our lives. “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (NASB).

I have read this verse many times before, but something on that day just gave me a completely new understanding. Even though Yeshua was a son, He learned obedience from suffering. It just dawned on me that many times we focus so much on the negative aspects of suffering that we cannot see the good it also brings.

Yes, no suffering ever feels good. I do not think it is supposed to feel good. Tough times do, after all, leave the greatest imprints on our soul, body and spirit. In a sense, these imprints last forever. Simple, easy things, on the other hand, will simply inspire or change us for a day or two before fading to a fleeting memory at best, or forgetfulness at worst. However, suffering leads to more. It leads to a need for God like never before. It builds character and forms unity like nothing else. I look back at all the suffering my husband went through on this earth and I stand in awe of the man it moulded him into. By enduring suffering, he became a role model like no other and through it all, God was glorified. Never once did my husband ask why God was allowing the suffering. Instead, he continued to reassure me that we were in God’s hands. Knowing what I know now, I am deeply convinced that the glory he is experiencing now is worth so much more than any of the suffering he had to endure. However, during those times of intense pain, I thought nothing could ever eclipse the suffering.

May this bottle of Self Control oil remind you of the worth of suffering. May it inspire you to accept God’s guidance, even if He takes you through hardship. I want to leave you with one last verse as you gently apply the oil of Self Control to of your suffering. I pray that your body, soul and spirit embrace these words.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5 ESV).