{"id":17170,"date":"2021-08-26T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2021-handspeak-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-08-26T11:19:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:19:15","slug":"2021-pain","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2021-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"When God Doesn\u2019t Take the Pain Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">by Rev. Rick Warren<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-17173 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ID-100170419.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ID-100170419.jpg 400w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ID-100170419-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was born with a brain disorder that, among other things, makes public speaking painful. Essentially, my brain runs extremely hot and fast, and it causes all kinds of problems in my body. For 50 years, I\u2019ve asked God every day to heal it. And he has said to me every time, \u201c<strong>My grace is all you need<\/strong>.\u201d God has used the most physically painful thing in my life to shape me and make me depend on him.<\/p>\n<p>The things that I\u2019ve prayed about the most, God has chosen not to remove. But, like Job, I say,\u00a0<em>\u201c<strong>Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Job 13:15 NIV).<\/p>\n<p>Even the Apostle Paul did not get answers to all of his prayers. In fact, he had what he called a \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d\u2014a lifelong problem that caused great pain in his life.<\/p>\n<p>Second Corinthians 12:8-10 says,\u00a0<em>\u201c<strong>Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<em>Each time he said, \u2018My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0<em>So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses<\/em>,\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>so that the power of Christ can work through me . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(NLT).<\/p>\n<p>If God never says \u201cyes\u201d to another prayer in my life, I still owe him the rest of my life, and you do too. He has a better plan, a bigger perspective, and a greater purpose.<\/p>\n<p>What have you been praying about that hasn\u2019t happened? Maybe you want to be married, have a baby, or get that promotion at work. Maybe you\u2019ve asked God to give you something, or maybe you\u2019ve asked him to take away something, like a chronic illness. Maybe you\u2019ve gone through something that makes you feel like it\u2019s the end of the story.<\/p>\n<p>This chapter will pass, but your story is not over. Whatever you\u2019ve been waiting on, you can trust that God is working for your good. Even when he doesn\u2019t take away your pain, God will give you his grace and power to walk through it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-17172 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/239456170_381865789968853_5733246650617361977_n-e1630001810666.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cThree different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, &#8216;My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.&#8217; So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong.&#8221;\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong>2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":17173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[35],"class_list":["post-17170","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-english-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/17170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/17170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17171,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/17170\/revisions\/17171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17170"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=17170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}