"God allows this pain to keep me humble and dependent on Him."
How it sounds in your head: Maybe this is His will. Maybe He's using this suffering to teach me something. The apostle Paul had his thorn—perhaps this pain is mine, a grace-gift to keep me close to Jesus.
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
-- 1 John 3:8Religious teaching that sanctifies suffering and makes God the author of pain instead of the Healer.
Well-meaning Christians quote 2 Corinthians 12 without context. When pain has purpose, it's easier to bear than senseless suffering, so the mind grasps for meaning.
She was bound by a spirit of infirmity for 18 YEARS. Jesus didn't say 'This is building your character'—He said she was BOUND BY SATAN and called her a 'daughter of Abraham' who OUGHT to be loosed. He loosed her IMMEDIATELY.
I REFUSE the lie that God authored this pain to keep me humble. IT IS WRITTEN that Jesus was manifested to DESTROY the works of the devil, and pain is the devil's work, not my Father's gift. My Father is not torturing me for my own good—that's abuse, and He is LOVE. IT IS WRITTEN in James 1:17 that EVERY GOOD GIFT comes from the Father of lights, in whom is NO VARIATION OR SHADOW OF TURNING. He doesn't give good gifts and then sneak in pain as a teaching tool. Pain is not my teacher; the Holy Spirit is. I am a daughter of Abraham under the BARAK blessing, and I OUGHT to be loosed from this affliction TODAY.
The Father isn't putting pain on you to keep you close—He sent His Son to be tortured so you wouldn't have to be. While religion says 'embrace your suffering,' He says 'I bore your suffering so you could have MY peace.'