Pushing through Pain without Becoming One

I recently discovered how much pain a human body can endure. I had shingles. Nothing prepared me for this level of pain. Nothing prepared me for the level of pain that came with it. At first, I honestly thought I had cracked a rib, until the rash confirmed the diagnosis. The burning, stabbing, piercing nerve pain seemed to come from somewhere deep beneath my skin. It came without warning, like an electric shock shooting through my body. Sleep became difficult. Concentration became almost impossible. Even ordinary everyday things felt overwhelming.

But I discovered something else about pain. It doesn’t just affect your body. It affects your patience, your emotions, your tolerance and your relationships. When you're hurting badly enough, it becomes very easy to become irritated by the smallest thing. A simple question can feel like an interruption. A harmless comment can suddenly annoy you. You become short-tempered with the very people who are trying to love you, help you and care for you.

And that's when God began to challenge me. I could allow it to make me angry, miserable and self-focused. Or I could allow God to use it to make me more compassionate and more dependent on Him.

Being kind and compassionate is easy when we're comfortable, but it’s much harder when we're in pain. The people around us shouldn't have to carry the emotional weight of something we are going through, especially when they didn’t cause it.

That doesn't mean we have to pretend we’re okay. Sometimes we just need to let others know we are struggling. Sometimes we need to step away before our frustration spills over onto someone else. Sometimes we need to apologise when we get it wrong. And sometimes all we can do is cry out to God: “Lord, please help me.”.

I have learnt that God doesn't always remove our pain as quickly as we would like Him to. Sometimes our healing is slower than our prayers. But even when He doesn’t immediately take away the pain, He can give us the strength to walk and push through it.  When I kept turning my focus back to Him, I discovered that I could endure the pain without allowing the pain to take over.

And strangely, this season of pain has given me something I didn't know I needed: a greater compassion for those who live with pain every day.

Before shingles, I could sympathise with someone suffering from chronic pain, but now I can empathise. I understand something of what it feels like to wake up already exhausted. To wonder what level of pain the day will bring. To smile on the outside, while your body is fighting an invisible battle nobody else can see.

It made me realise that there are people sitting beside us at Church, at work, in our families and among our friends who may be carrying invisible pain.

Perhaps they don't need our advice; they simply need our grace and understanding.

Psalm 38:6–8 gave words to something I was experiencing:

“I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.”

David didn’t pretend he wasn’t hurting, and neither do we have to.

God is not offended by our tears.  He is not disappointed when we admit that we are struggling.  We can bring Him our pain, our exhaustion, our frustration, our fears and even our anger.

But perhaps our prayer doesn’t always need to be: “Lord, please take away this pain.” 

But: “Lord, please help me to endure and push through this pain without becoming one.”

Because I may be hurting, I may be weary, and I may not always get it right, but with God's grace, I don’t have to become a pain to the people around me.

And perhaps that is one of the ways God redeems even our hardest seasons—

• By taking what is hurting us and using it to teach us how to hurt others less.  
• By taking our suffering and turning it into compassion 
• By taking our weakness and teaching us dependence.

So, if you are living with pain today, please don’t think you have to be strong every moment. 

Cry when you need to.  Rest when you need to. Ask for help when you’re struggling.

And most importantly, take your pain to God.  You don’t have to let the pain define who you become. 

With God’s help, we can push through the pain, one day, one hour, sometimes one moment at a time - and ask God to help us come through it softer, not harder; more compassionate, not more bitter; and more dependent on Him, not less.

Because perhaps the greatest victory isn't always that the pain disappears. Perhaps sometimes it is that the pain doesn't get to change the person God is helping us become.

The Grammar of Easter

At first glance, the Easter narrative seems to get its grammar “wrong.” Two of its most powerful phrases—“It is finished” and “He is risen”—don’t quite follow the patterns we might expect in modern, everyday English. We might instinctively rewrite them as “It has finished” or “He has risen.” Cleaner. More correct. More… ordinary.

But Easter was never meant to sound ordinary.

These phrases come from ancient Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written. When Jesus says, “It is finished,” the word used is Tetelestai—a verb form that doesn’t just describe something completed in the past, but something completed with ongoing, lasting effect. In modern grammar, we might try to force it into a neat tense, but it resists that. “It is finished” holds both past and present in tension: the work is done, and it remains done. Forever.

Similarly, “He is risen” carries a sense that goes beyond a simple past action. It doesn’t just mean Jesus rose once, long ago. It means He is in a state of being risen—alive now, present now, active now. The phrasing stretches beyond grammar into something living and continuous.

So why would God allow—or even inspire—phrasing that feels grammatically “off”? Perhaps because truth this profound cannot be confined to tidy linguistic boxes.

Easter is not just an event to be recorded or remembered; it is a reality that spills across time. “It is finished” declares that nothing more needs to be added to the work of redemption—no striving, no earning, no rewriting. And “He is risen” reminds us that this is not history gathering dust, but life that still breathes.

In a way, the “incorrectness” is the point. It disrupts us. It makes us pause. It refuses to let us skim past sacred meaning with casual familiarity. The grammar bends so that the message can stand firm.

Because sometimes, when something is eternal, language has to stretch to hold it.

Finding Joy in the Temporary: A Christian Reflection on Sukkot

Jewish families around the world celebrated Sukkot this week —also known as the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles. It is a time of remembering the children of Israelites' 40 years wandering in the desert, after leaving Egypt, and celebrating God's miraculous protection and His provision, whilst celebrating the harvest.

By dwelling in temporary 'sukkahs' or tent-like structures for a week, Jews acknowledge the fragility of life and express joy and gratitude for both past miracles and God's continued care through His provision and protection.

For seven days, they feast on four special species of vegetation, pray, and sometimes even sleep in these small, fragile, makeshift, foilage covered structured huts, that are open to the natural elements of rain and wind, but also to the magnificence of the stars. They remember when God provided their ancestors daily with manna, water and shelter.  

At first glance, Sukkot might seem like a quaint, meaningful, ancient ritual. But for Christians, it holds a profound message: that life itself is temporary. Just as the Sukkah is a fleeting shelter, our bodies, possessions, and even our struggles are not meant to last forever. We, too, are pilgrims—passing through this world toward an eternal home.

In our modern lives, we build “booths” of another kind—houses, careers, relationships and routines—that feel solid and secure. Yet Sukkot reminds us how quickly everything can shift. It invites us to loosen our grip on the material and trust in God’s daily provision, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness.

There is also joy in this festival—joy in simplicity, community, and gratitude. The book of Leviticus calls it a “time of rejoicing,” because when we remember that all we have comes from God and all we are is held by Him, fear gives way to peace.

As followers of Christ, we can look at the Sukkah and see a reflection of Jesus Himself—God dwelling among us, the Eternal stepping into the temporary. This week, let us pause to thank God for His faithful presence in our fragile shelters. May Sukkot remind us that though our earthly tents may fall, our true eternal home is everlasting.

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God…” —2 Corinthians 5:1

Come into the Light

I truly believe my dog can tell the time. Every morning at 7am, she sits by our front door and starts whining to be taken for her first walk of the day. The problem with this is that South Africa does not have day light saving, so in winter 7am is still pretty much dark.

Although our walking path does have some lighting, its coverage is limited to only certain areas of the grass. However, my dog always insists on doing her business in the darkest part of grass, which has forced me to carry a torch to see, to pick up after her.

This morning ritual made me think of how often we too like to do our ‘dirty business’ in the dark. We keep these dark secrets about ourselves and our lives from others, hoping no one will see them.

However, I’ve discovered that it only needs a tiny speck of light to invade the darkness. When we stop hiding and get vulnerable enough to reveal our inner, darkest secrets with someone we can trust, it frees us of the shame and guilt that we have been carrying.

Coming into the light to live an authentic life, without pretending, without any secrets, is the only way we will ever find peace and joy. So today, ask yourself if there is some darkness in you that needs God’s light to shine through. Only when we are touched by God’s light, can we shine His light for others. It is God’s light that illuminates our path and guides our steps in the direction He wants to take us.

Time for Change

Starting a new year is a perfect time to reflect on our current habits and traditions that are no longer serving us. A case in point is the timing of our Christmas meal. Having grown up having a Christmas Eve meal and enjoying leftovers on Christmas Day, this was familiar and traditional for me. Whereas my husband grew up either having a full Christmas day lunch or going out to a Restaurant for their meal. Because Church has always been a priority for me for Christmas Day, it seemed easier to continue with my Christmas Eve meal tradition with my family.  However, this year, we were invited to friends for their Christmas Lunch, which caused us to re-evaluate our tradition.  Discussing it with the family, we agreed it was time for a change. Going forward, we will prep the meal on Christmas Eve, and after Church, we will cook and enjoy a proper Christmas meal together, for the first time, and enjoy the leftovers on Boxing Day instead!  It is never too late to start a new tradition.

So often in life we continue doing things the same familiar way, because that’s how we have always done them, never questioning the reasons we do them.  Traditions are passed down from one generation to the next, never changing or evolving.  This year, let us take time to reflect on what areas in our lives need change, that are no longer working for us, and ask God too what He is calling us to change.

One thing I have learnt, is that if you want a different outcome, you need a different input.  In other words, without change, nothing changes. So let us stop doing the same thing the same way, just because that’s the easiest. Some things in life need to be shaken up to shift us out of our comfort zone.  We need to stop seeing change as something negative, but to embrace it for the positive impact it can have in our lives.

There are many changes God has been nudging me about, which I intend to set in motion.  Some are new, healthier choices which I will try to discipline myself with everyday until it becomes a habit. I have also chosen a friend who I have confessed my desire to change, who will be holding me accountable, which will motivate and encourage me to keep on track.

Some changes may seem difficult or even unsettling.  Yet, as Christians, we are assured that God is with us through every transition. One of the most powerful aspects of change is the way it draws us closer to God. In moments of uncertainty or struggle, we are often reminded of our dependence on Him. Change invites us to place our trust fully in God, knowing that He is always faithful.

Change isn't just for our own or our family’s benefit; but it serves a greater purpose of creating the life God desires for us. As we change things externally in our lives, we find that we too have changed inside.  A butterfly is a reminder that change can be beautiful.

So whatever changes we need to or intend to make this year, let us embrace them and push through every challenge to see them become a reality.  Let 2025 be a time for change— a year to let God renew us, transform us, and use us for His purposes. Let us trust God as we step boldly into the new and different things He has in store for us, as we obediently, and with discipline, make the necessary changes needed in our lives.  So that when 2026 comes about, we can look back with pride of what we have accomplished through change…

The Cross of Christmas

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’s birth on Christmas day, 25th December, (the real reason for the season), have you ever wondered why God had to send Jesus to earth to be born as a baby? 

Although the Nativity story is found in the Gospel books of Mathew and Luke, having recently studied the book of Hebrews, I was amazed to come across many verses pertaining to why Jesus was born. 

So, I thought I’d share them with you as you ponder and reflect on the celebration of the birth of our King and Savior, Jesus Christ…

1. Jesus was born so that He could become the son of God that would make us His children and God our Heavenly Father - Hebrews 1:5; 5:5
2. Jesus was born as a human of flesh and blood so that He would no longer be immortal but would be able to die so that His blood could be poured out for us. - Hebrews 2: 14
3. Jesus needed to be born, so He could die in order to destroy the devil through His death- Hebrews 2:14
4. Jesus needed to die to deliver and free us from sin and break the power of death and the devil - Hebrews 2:15
5. Jesus was born so He could become human like us and know how it feels to be tempted and suffer - Hebrews 2:18
6. Jesus was born to become the guarantee and mediator of a new covenant between ourselves and God - Hebrews 7:22; 8:6; 9:15
7. Jesus was born so He could have a body that could be sacrificed like an unblemished Lamb for our sins- Hebrews 10:5

When you add the Cross to Christmas, it gives meaning to the purpose of Jesus’s birth. Our wreaths of holly and berries symbolize a wreath for His death and represent the crown of thorns He had to wear and the berries, the drops of blood that dripped from His brow. 

The Christmas lights represent the light that Jesus brings to the darkness of the world, to our own darkness and how we should be reflecting His light to others. Whether you have a star or an Angel on top of your Christmas tree, both are symbols of God’s glory that ushered in the announcement of Jesus’s birth.  

The very tree represents the wood that was cut up to become the cross. The ornaments we put on our trees can represent things we should nail to the tree or they can also represent our blessings and inherited gifts we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  

Christmas offers us the hope of eternity in Heaven. The Old Testament’s sacrifices were just a parole but with the New Testament and Covenant, we are given a full pardon. Yes, the devil may still seem active in our lives, but he is like a dog that has been chained up to the stake of the Cross.  He can growl and bark, but he can no longer harm us, as long as we stay out of his reach. 

Christmas is God reaching out to us.  It is the celebration of His incarnation that He is Emmanuel and is always with us. It should not just be a holiday tradition, but become our response to God for sending Jesus to restore our relationship with Him.

Wishing you all a Blessed and meaningful Christmas!

Much love, 

Samantha