I hear the burning pain that afflicts your body, and I join my prayers to yours for relief. Yet while we ask the Lord to remove this suffering, let us not overlook the medicine it offers to the soul. As I have often said, nothing is more delightful than a word that stings, because the reality of unchecked sin is far more bitter. This bodily distress, like a bitter herb, can purge away lurking evils, softening a heart that might otherwise turn hard. Give thanks to God, therefore, as Job did, saying, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." If you receive even this torment with thanksgiving, the thing becomes a gain, not a loss. A door is opened to you in the Lord, not for ease of flesh, but for the healing of the spirit. We pray for your health, but far more do we pray that this trial not pass until it has done its perfect work, restoring you to a soundness that reaches beyond the body. I am persuaded that through these many small pains which you now endure, you will one day bring forth abundant fruit.