“The pain is too much…it's more than I can bear!”

God—through His Son Jesus Christ—makes available real spiritual power to calm and heal a distressed mind.

I want to talk about pain that comes not from injury or health, but from emotional and mental distress. For physical pain there are physical remedies, but where do you go for pain relief from what’s plaguing your mind and spirit? Emotional pain can hurt worse than physical injury. It can flood in relentlessly when we unexpectedly suffer the loss of a loved one. We can anguish over finances, over hurt from a betrayal or a broken relationship. The list of causes is long. As physical pain comes from accidents or mistakes, the same is true for emotional agony. We have all said and done things that have brought on painful consequences. We have also been victims of someone else’s actions.

Is relief—even outright release—from this kind of distressing pain available?

Knowing full well the human condition, God—through His Son Jesus Christ—makes available real spiritual power to calm and heal a distressed mind.

Here’s remedy number one: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7, New International Version). Peter here of course refers to Jesus Christ, whom the Bible identifies as our elder brother.

The Greek word translated “cast” is transliterated epiriptó. It means to throw, cast with purpose.

If we’re worried about something—and who isn’t in this day and age—we’re to literally take those worries and cast them, throw them, onto our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. During His earthly life, Jesus experienced the whole scale of human emotion—He knows how we feel, and He knows how to comfort us. And He knew what to do about it when He regularly prayed to His Father for help.

But have you ever found that sometimes, even if we pray: “Father, I will do what I read and know. I cast my worries and fears on you; you may have them,” we have a tendency to take these very worries and fears back? It can be tough to let our fears, our anxieties, and our concerns go. For many people, we’re not wired that way. We want to fix, manage and control wherever we find ourselves.

So to achieve real pain relief from emotional and spiritual distress, the first part is to let go and turn your problems and challenges over to God.

What’s the second part? That involves trust. As we turn our problems and challenges over to God, yielding our will and lives to Him, we ask Him to lead us, and we expect that He will do so, even if it’s in a direction that we did not previously consider.

That leads us to a favorite verse of mine: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Did you notice that this verse ends with a major promise? God will direct us; He will provide pain relief. To “trust” in God means to believe that He will do what He says He will do, and then allow Him to do it!

We all have our part in resolving a difficulty that results in pain. Relief often occurs when we yield and actually start to trust God. The Proverb raises the trust bar high: “with all your heart.” So as much as our strength allows, we strive to fulfill this.

God will answer that prayer today.

Once we’ve yielded, we ask God to calm our mind. Sometimes it takes time. Medical research shows that our physical state often changes when we’re distressed. Together with our mind, our whole body needs to “stand down.” As our spiritual trust is rewarded and increased, a peace—sometimes even a fresh joy—emerges in its place as we recover.

Some tough emotional pain lasts for a while, and it lasts for good reason. For example, the tragic loss of a loved one is not something that someone simply “gets over” quickly. Many emotional and spiritual wounds can—and often do—take time to heal.

But wherever you may be on the spectrum of emotional or spiritual pain, God and Jesus Christ are there to help you.

I can confidently tell you that this works. Since I work so much with people, and I am often pained by what I observe or experience by the actions of others and myself, I have had many instances where I’ve seen this work. When I literally throw the pain and situation to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, They help relieve that pain.

But They do more than that. By casting my care upon God, I learn from the experience. I may learn what I could have done better or what I could have done to prevent or lessen the pain. Like strengthening our physical health or taking care to avoid accidents, we learn how to avoid emotional pain.

A mind filled with pain sometimes could use the comfort and solace that comes from talking things out. You might be interested to know that we have trained pastors all over the United States and in international areas who are available to speak with you. I invite you to visit our “Congregations” section of our website. When you find one that’s close by, click or tap, and it will give you the phone number and e-mail access to our local pastor and his wife. Please feel free to contact them.

Need pain relief? Powerful spiritual resources are available to you right now!