"God allowed this pain to teach me patience and dependence. I shouldn't ask for it to leave."
How it sounds in your head: Well-meaning Christians told you this is your 'thorn in the flesh.' Pastors suggested God is refining you through suffering. You've heard 'suffering builds character' so many times you feel selfish for wanting relief. Maybe accepting pain is spiritual maturity.
"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
-- 3 John 1:2Religious system making God the author of suffering and calling it sanctification.
It sounds humble and spiritual to accept suffering. Plus, Paul had a thorn, right? And you have grown in some ways through this trial, which seems to confirm God intended it.
Disciples asked if his blindness was caused by his sin or his parents' sin—assuming God authored it for a reason. Jesus said 'NEITHER'—it was simply so God's works could be displayed. Jesus immediately healed him, proving God's work is HEALING, not maintaining suffering for lessons.
I REFUSE the lie that God authored my pain to teach me. IT IS WRITTEN that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give LIFE abundantly—pain steals life, so it's from the thief, not the Teacher. Jesus healed ALL who were oppressed by the devil because sickness IS oppression. God's will for me is HEALTH, just as my soul prospers. IT IS WRITTEN in James 1:17 that 'every GOOD gift and every PERFECT gift is from above'—pain is neither good nor perfect, so it's not from my Father. I am blessed coming in and going out under the BARAK covenant. I boldly ask for healing because asking aligns with HIS heart, not against it.
Your Father didn't send pain to make you patient—He sent Jesus to give you LIFE. The father of the prodigal didn't design the pig pen as a classroom; he waited with the robe ready, longing for the moment his son would come home to abundance. Pain is the pig pen. The Father has healing ready.