I’ve been thinking about pain lately and what it feels like apart from the obvious physicality of it. Besides physical pain, I’m also taking about emotional pain that can hurt as badly as an injury or a disease. 

I believe that pain can be lonely — especially ongoing pain.

I think it’s lonely because pain is a completely personal feeling that encompasses entirely negative sensations that can only be explained with limited and distressing words. Let me say that another way — pain is only a negative feeling that can be explained with negative words. Even more, no matter how well someone might use precise words to describe the pain, the person hearing about it still does not feel it. That’s where it starts getting lonely. The depth of understanding is impossible to fully reciprocate. 

I wonder if the scope of the loneliness comes full circle when those listening get tired of hearing about it or even seeing the effects of it. Maybe to them it sounds like complaining or looks like attention-seeking-manipulations. Goodness gracious! The hurting individual is left on what would feel like an unreachable, deserted island. 

That makes me incredibly sad. It makes me sad for two reasons:

One reason is because I’ve grown to understand pain more now that I’m older (and hopefully wiser). I sincerely empathize with people who are hurting. Although I may not feel what they are feeling, I do ache for them.

The second reason it makes me incredibly sad is because I used to be one of those people who didn’t understand. Previously I had experienced pain in spurts due to accidents, sports injuries, and surgeries. In those moments I could sympathize with people who experience on-going pain. Admittedly, though, it was short-lived because so was the pain.

Over the years, I believe the Lord has allowed me to experience physical and emotional pain and disease that has humbled me greatly. These occurrences were gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and incredibly painful. I felt the overwhelming loneliness of it all. 

Amid it all, though, I had Christ comforting me. And He has shown me what compassion is and that it can sometimes lay dormant within the pit of our beings. I was blessed to have such a thing awaked within me.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV).

Let’s never forget what the loneliness of pain can feel like. Let’s never remain aloof about anyone who is hurting. We’ve all been there, or will be there, or maybe are even there right now. Remember that you can have the kind of comfort that only Christ can bring. Then you can use what you gleaned from it to help others through it all.