Tag: encouragement

The Human Condition: A Connection of Pain and Prayer

“I tried that. It doesn’t work!” She screamed at me, when I told her I was praying for her.

I had gone to the hospital to make sure that the hemiplegic migraine slamming the left side of my body wasn’t a stroke. (It wasn’t. I’m fine now.) In the emergency room, with beds separated only by curtains, I could clearly hear a woman’s moans and cries. Each cry injected fresh pain into my already-throbbing head, and my initial reaction was to cover my ears and pray she would stop making so much noise. Instantly, I felt ashamed. Surely, she didn’t want her pain any more than I wanted mine.

Pain is part of the human condition, and sometimes I get so caught up in my own pain that I forget my neighbor is hurting, too. But this time,