Headaches and Faith
I hate headaches. I really do.
To me, there are few things more annoying than headaches. I rarely get them, and when I do, they are never strong enough to make me go to bed but painful enough to make everything a chore. I then get annoyed with myself because: “It’s just a headache!” See, headaches even make me yell at myself.
Mandy and I have passed around a stomach bug and the result of mine the other day was a consistent, nagging headache that Tylenol would not touch. I still had to get some things done around the house (I took a sick day for the stomach bug), so they were done with an annoying, not-too-painful throbbing behind my eyes.
This complaining about headaches may seem inconsequential and a bit shortsighted, but I learned something during this headache.
We hear incredible stories of faith about people who trusted God in the midst of tremendous struggles. My friend Alan’s child had cancer at 8 months old and struggled through a year of chemo, brutal radiation treatments, and a time when they thought the cancer had returned but did not. All the while, he pastored our church with tremendous grace, trusting in God to heal and to provide. He was a broken man and shared that brokenness with his congregation, and God was evident and comforted him and us.
What does this story have to do with my headaches? Very little. But when I look at the faith exhibited by Alan’s family during a time of crisis, I wonder if I have the same faith. Would I trust God in the midst of incredible suffering? Do I trust God in the midst of annoying headache? There’s the rub. God calls us to trust him in all circumstances. I may not ever face cancer, but that does not mean that I should not have the same faith in God.
You will always do the big things the same way you do the small things. Will I have the same faith even in the small things? I believe that is the true meaning of Philippians 4:13.
