I hope you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. This is a special time to turn our thoughts to our Creator and give thanks to Him for the bounteous blessings He has bestowed upon us.

Painful Lessons

I would like to share something deeply personal. 2023 has been a major turning point in my life. God has been speaking to me for many years. I don’t know if He speaks like this to other people, but lately to me He has been speaking through pain.

Every month or so for the past few years, I have gotten a terrible pain in my throat. It usually went away after a day or two. I couldn’t get an answer as to the source of it. I believe my Heavenly Father was trying to teach me something crucially important. And because I hadn’t heeded His warnings for so long, I needed to learn my lesson the hard way.

The Ultimate Lesson

At the start of March this year, my throat became so painful that I could not eat or drink without being in agony. And it lasted for about a week. All I could do was lie down and take it. Medicine barely made a dent in the pain. A couple doctor visits were no help.

I pleaded with God to heal me. After I had suffered three days of undiluted torment, I begged Him to take this cup from me because I didn’t think I could bear it any longer. My prayer was not immediately answered because I needed to be taken to my limit. After I prayed fervently, I willed myself to patiently wait for an answer. And I realized that it wouldn’t be as easy as simply asking. I required a longer amount of time in the fiery furnace of affliction to purge me of my old weaknesses, such as a bad temper and impertinence.

If I had been healed immediately, that purifying experience wouldn’t have seared itself into my memory as much as it did. Now, whenever I am tempted to return to my old ugly habits, I vividly remember the pain I suffered, and I lose all desire for them. My old ways are now repugnant to me. I have had my stony heart replaced by one of flesh.

A New Man

Whatever God wants to inflict on me, I am willing to submit to it. I no longer fear future tests and pain as much as I once did. That’s because I survived the hardest trial I’ve ever gone through, one that I thought might be too much for me. And I didn’t emerge from it the same man I have been. I am a new man.

My aim is now meekness, kindness, and goodness. Basically, I want to be more like Jesus Christ.

I feel like I suffered in a way that helped me understand a little bit of what the Savior suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane. On my sickbed, no matter where I turned my head to try to futilely ward off the pain, it just kept coming. There was no relief. There was no blocking the suffering. I had to endure it to the bitter end. And so did He. He felt every bit of my pain, as well as everyone else’s who has lived, and ever will live, on Earth. No one else could have done what He did to save us. That is what makes Him so special.

Lesson Learned

Since March, I have not had the regular pain in my throat I was so used to having. That is a big part of why I believe those smaller tests were from God as He tried to get me on the right path. My stubbornness necessitated a great final test to rid me of pride. All desire for sin or evil has been burned out of me. It has been purged. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I am eager to be better.

I don’t know if I will ever get sick in that way again. If I do, it will be to teach me something I couldn’t learn otherwise. But I think that I have finally learned my lesson.

This experience reminds me of Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” And also verse 11, which says, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” That has certainly been the case for me. I have been sorely chastened, which felt grievous at the time. But it has yielded extraordinary blessings.

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks to God for sparing my life, changing my heart, and healing my soul. I look forward to what is coming, trusting that He will help me through any affliction I must pass through. I now understand what David was talking about when he said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”

May we all overcome our fears and challenges by putting our trust in God.

This is the Deja Reviewer wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.

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