Spiritual Fitness & Living With Chronic Pain

The day after is usually very difficult when you’re trying to erase your past failures as you fight to live for a new life.

Have you ever experienced anything like this in your own life? When you try with all of your might to truly make things different? And instead, it feels like you keep repeating the cycle of defeat because you can’t break out of your depression due to pain or you can’t lose weight or you can’t overcome addictions?

I have. In fact, I had lost my personal battles against pain, depression, fatigue and compulsive eating several times over the span of the last decade or so.

Full of pain-filled excuses, I had tried to hide behind the lies and the shame of not being able to change my own circumstances.

Years of pain and subsequent obesity defined who I had appeared to be outwardly more than what was really on the inside of me.

It discouraged me even more so because I confidently knew who I was inwardly. And what I knew about myself spiritually did not visibly translate into any images of redemptive living. In actuality, the power of unresolved pain was winning the fight against my resolve to change into someone better.

As optimistic as I had tried to be, the results never seemed to match my expectations. In essence, I had leaned on my own abilities, and I really didn’t know how to tap into the power of Christ within me. It was as if there was a barrier between my beliefs about the power of God and the practical reality regarding the powerlessness about my brokenness.

So what do you do when you’re determined to make changes and nothing seems to effectively work?

From what I’ve discovered, don’t try to keep building yourself up to break through some contrived pain barrier that you’ve created in your own mind. Freedom and life aren’t waiting for you beyond this imaginary point. You’re not called to fight harder, run faster, think more intelligently and conquer all obstacles when you really can’t solve the problems all by yourself.

And that’s where you sometimes end up in your journey of life. And that’s when the ultimate test is given to you.

Realities about sustainability, conversion, peace and true life are freely given by the life-giving power of Christ. And when His Spirit lives in you because of your faith, even if you don’t sense Him yet, your expectations can only grow once you see the power of God exceed what you currently see and believe about your existence today.

Your miracle is not automatically given to you from some outside source nor does it happen instantaneously because you deserve it from your efforts toward self-empowerment.

On the contrary, your miracle about living the changed life centers on what’s within your inner being. To truly tap into this life-changing power is to put your full trust into the hands of God.

This means this. Surrender yourself to Jesus Christ. And when you do this, your life becomes His. Over time, then your thoughts will become like His. And furthermore, then you’ll start acknowledging that your “day-after” experiences will fade away because you’re not relying exclusively on your own abilities.

Change happens throughout a process. As you progress on this journey, then you will begin to rely on God’s strength even more so because He will become the motivation for your living. Life will take on a whole new meaning. And regarding the idea about long-term change, you really can’t achieve this without having an attitude of humility. Meanwhile throughout the process of starting fresh, although your brokenness might still exist, you don’t need to be humble on your own efforts.

By surrendering to the Spirit of Christ within you, His power of humility will provide the miracle of permanent change within you.

I know there’s quite a lot of information for you to digest. But please stick with me as I explain from future writings how the power of the Spirit of Christ can practically transform you from your old ways of living to the new ones awaiting you.

Keep me on your favorites about living with chronic pain and spiritual fitness.

Okay – you’ve done it. You have finally reached the point where backwards doesn’t count anymore. At last, you’ve firmly decided to do something radically different with your life no matter how damaged you undoubtedly feel or how heavy your circumstances might actually weigh.

I can vividly recall how I felt the day after I had decided to live differently. Full of grim and vigor, I was fiercely determined to make some long-lasting changes. I had reached the point where my old ways of living felt like they were killing me.

For years, the experts had tried to help me out of my brokenness, and for some reason, their efforts, combined with mine, had not totally freed me from the snare of the trapper.

The more I had listened to the sound advice of others, including medical experts, the more it seemed as if I had more to do to reach the point of becoming better. And it was like a mirage because I no longer recognized what better really looked like anymore. Chronic pain and morbid obesity and inner struggles about my purpose cleverly eluded my abilities to make things better.

It felt like I was holding on to a bag of leftovers about myself. In a sense, I thought I would have to live in some form of denial to compensate for my weaknesses. In other words, to walk meant that I had to limp; to feel better meant that I had to hide behind the lies about my unfortunate circumstances; to live by faith meant that I had to deny parts of who I was, and so forth.

Regardless, I had shown fortitude. Basically it was my way of demonstrating brute strength against self-deterioration, trying just about every conceivable exercise about self-improvement, pain-mediation, weight loss and spiritual healing known to man. In the end, the results were minimal with no evidence of sustainable pain relief or return to functional normalcy.

You might relate to the feeling of starting over, hoping to attain some level of improvement, then eventually failing, and then again repeating the process over and over again without having any real success. Things that once came easy, such as simple tasks, low-level physical exercise and keeping to a simple diet plan now had become insurmountable obstacles.

During the middle of trying to make better changes, when you think you can’t do them, then this is what usually happens. But more discouraging is when you don’t even attempt to make changes because your pain hurts you too much. I hesitate to elaborate about the darker sides of brokenness.

Nonetheless, at this very moment, you’re where I was nearly three and a half years ago. You’ve reached that place where resolve is born from the inside out.

Practically speaking for me, I decided to go against the grain of my urges. The process started out slowly. Instead of choosing the short-term fix for pain relief by constantly taking medications, or losing around 5-10 pounds instead of 50 or more, or settling for 8 hours of couch time as opposed to walking on the treadmill, I opted to get out of my unhealthy mindset though my body went in to a tantrum.

Although I’ve always appreciated various systematic and fairly reliable ways to handle painful affliction, I remember when I crossed over from thinking too small to dreaming much bigger. And the odd thing is that I knew I could no longer rely on self, of any form, to overcome the things of self. It had to be done more powerfully through God.

Today is the beginning place to start your new life. Albeit, just getting here has already been a tumultuous journey. This place where you’ve planted your feet is rock solid, giving you the necessary support to experience a redemptive life of self-discovery and ultimate purpose.

Keep up with these blogs about living with chronic pain and spiritual fitness to help you to work out the kinks about moving from the old ways of living to uncovering the hidden power which lies deep within you.

I’ve noticed that it is difficult for those who are unaffected by chronic pain to really understand the heart of those who are truly going through some horrendous times.

Case in point, it’s easy for the unencumbered individual to say, “Today is the day to get started to make changes.  Don’t wait another moment.  Change is good for you, so what are you waiting for?”

But until he or she has actually walked in your shoes and truly understands your pain, as well as the obstacles and fears that you have, then the power behind his or her voice is puny.

Getting started is a matter of surrendering your will. And in the process of surrendering your will, you have to know with whom to surrender.

And in terms of what I’m really trying to convey, when you’re at the crossroads between utter despair or rebooting your life, deliberate choices must be made or you’ll become the victim of not choosing either path.

You may have heard the expression that life is an accumulation of choices. Well, in an odd sense, it oftentimes is viewed from this perspective. But I encourage you to look at life differently – from a place where your initial choice is not actually yours.

You might believe that you have total control about what you’re doing or how you’re going to handle certain predicaments, but this behavioral approach merely scratches the surface of what it means to participate in sustainable change.

Getting started begins deep within you. Most likely, your painful wounds and brokenness are inconspicuously hidden and deeply intertwined within your soul, trying to take over who you really are.

Trying to completely heal yourself first or straightening out the ugly parts before you get started on the road to better living never happens as you intend it too.

Getting started means to go to that place that God created within you. Simply, this place can only be found through faith. This place is intended for the invisible parts of who you are to interact with an invisible God. That’s why it takes faith.

Getting started requires your full surrender to the One who created faith. This is why your choice is not of your own volition. It’s God’s, and it’s meant for your wholeness and healing through His redemptive act of love.

This is why it is vitally important to surrender to God. This is the place, deepest within your inner being, where God meets you most lovingly and powerfully. When you’re vulnerable and honest and real with Him in this place, as oftentimes happens when you’re completely broken, this is where change begins by the activity of His Spirit.

This is the best way to get started with new living!

Just some helpful thoughts about living with chronic pain and spiritual fitness…

When you’re at the place where pain, whether physical or emotional, stops you dead in your tracks, I encourage you to resist giving up and to continue onward no matter the circumstances.

From my experience with living with chronic pain, I’ve discovered some very tough lessons through intense times of bodily suffering, fatigue and deep depression.

One loss on top of another can definitely complicate your ability to see the light of day; all the while, dimming any hope of living a productive lifestyle ever again.

I know what I’m about to say sounds crazy, but please listen because it’s very important. This crossroads where you’re positioned is the place to begin rebuilding your life.

And when your condition is chronic, meaning this unhealthy cycle repeats itself over and over again, year after year, this is when you have an opportunity to do something constructive, instead of being disheartened to the point of giving up.

I encourage you to voluntarily resign to the reality of nothingness about your circumstances. Please do not misunderstand what I’m trying to say. I’m absolutely not suggesting that you become fixated on lowly thoughts or that you adopt abnormal living habits.

On the contrary, I’m referring to something much deeper spiritually and something very real for your recovery.

While your flesh (body, mind, emotions and will) might want the trials of painful adversity to be completely eliminated immediately, God might actually be using this form of suffering as a way of developing your true spiritual wholeness.

What I mean is this. Your pain might be the cross you must bear so you’ll learn how to obediently resign to nothingness. In other words, this might be the best way for you to actually “die to self” or “to become more aware of eternal realties.”

When resigning to nothingness, this is exactly when your faith will direct you into the rest of God. And from this construct this is where the life of Christ will begin to fully manifest through you.

By resigning to nothingness, you’re becoming less. By giving yourself to God, He’s becoming more in you. You’ll find that your trust will practically grow in knowing God through suffering.

For the most part, the pain will no longer remain the centerpiece of despair in your life. Rather, it will simply signal you to give yourself, including all of your anxieties, quickly unto God.

Think of your dark times as opportunities of spiritual growth. I know some of these thoughts are deeply profound. Yet, the spiritual things do become real when we set our minds to believe in them.

In essence, the more you decrease, the more He will increase in you, giving you the true meaning of freedom and healing.

Your dark clouds will eventually fade away because your newfound confidence of faith will enlighten your entire being about the realness of the eternal things to come.

Just some helpful thoughts about living with chronic pain and spiritual fitness…

The importance of spiritual fitness and how it relates to your life deals directly with your relationship with God. It has nothing to do with your efforts to feel justified by good works.

Essentially, your whole purpose of life is to be near God, and likewise, to have God near you. This is when restoration of the body and redemption of the human soul has any chance of taking place.

The disciplinary side of spiritual fitness can actually hurt. Because many philosophical thoughts and worldviews influence our religious expressions, it’s common to find that many people are actually pretending to be near  God, when in reality, they are not.

This is the essence of spiritual fitness. It’s a process that brings you closer to God, meanwhile, setting you apart from being confirmed by worldly ways of living. It’s moving from past to present, so you can experience the fulfilling promises about a new future.

For more information about living with chronic pain or spiritual fitness, please keep me on your blog favorites.

Re-constructing from old to new!

Spiritual Fitness is not the exercise of any spiritually-related practice. Furthermore, it’s not an attempt to make you the primary focus of better health and self-awareness. Sure you will glean the fruits of having a healthier lifestyle through a dedicated diet of spiritual fitness.

But the goal is not about what you can do to try to flex your spiritual muscles toward improved living. On the contrary, it’s the exact opposite. It’s about how much you’re willing to be stretched by faith into someone “new” through your beliefs in God.

Do you feel the buzz in the air? People are willing to put aside the old, ugly, dirty and heavy junk from the lifestyles of 2009 for something radically new.

Yet, to really begin to live from a new mindset, it takes full understanding what death means to the core of your being. And for many people, it seems as if this past year typified some of the characteristics of death through loss, conflict, pain and brokenness.

You’re not really afraid of pain and fragmentation because you’ve already been living like this for quite some time. And as a result, you no longer fear the worst because you’ve been accustomed to the regular “ups & downs” of living with chronic pain – both physically and emotionally.

Spiritual fitness awaits your participation. This simply means that you are meant to be “set apart” from the encumbrances of this worldly life.

To walk the road of spiritual fitness isn’t easy. It takes incredible faith, a willingness to be guided by the Spirit of God, and courageous surrender and immense discipline to keep on enduring no matter what. The rewards are unbelievably fulfilling, both on your inner core, as well as seen on your outer being.

Stay with me this year as I’ll continue to blog about living with chronic pain and how to reach your potential of a fulfilled life. It’s literally closer to reality than you might actually realize.