Beyond Pain

The challenges of pain are very real and they often seriously impact many areas of daily life. Besides the physical and emotional of chronic pain, personal questions of purpose, happiness, and God's presence in our experience can be difficult to unravel. However, as many have found, the more we intentionally seek to deepen our spirituality and draw closer to God in prayer, action, and faith, the more we discover blessings that not only help us cope better with our physical and emotional pain but become stronger and more resilient in spirit and grace. In reaching for God, we are able to go beyond our pain and experience God's amazing love and, ultimately find deep, abiding joy. But is this possible when pain is unrelenting? If so, how? Drawing from the first edition of Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy, this Revised Edition offers the story of Job and the example of Jesus Christ as inspiration for navigating the journey of chronic pain through its many levels toward greater spiritual insight, peace, and joy. New in this Revised Edition are Prayer Prompts that the individual reader can use to focus prayer and meditation, and fresh insights from scripture and personal experiences since the first edition's publication more than 10 years ago. Also included are discussion questions that can be used in small group settings. Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy Revised Edition invites the person who suffers to find fresh inspiration in the story of Job, renewed hope in the life of Jesus, and in all things so light-filled and new, abundant and unending joy.