Question: I am always so impressed with people who are able to overcome their physical impairments with grace and a positive outlook. How can we transform our physical pains into spiritual gain?

Answer: Until you change what you do with your pain, you cannot be healed. Suffering is a kind of seed that holds the capacity to deliver us from darkness or confirm our suffering. Our usual response to pain tells us what we need to do to get past it. The only thing we can change about our lives is what we hold to be true… we can’t change anything else. We suffer because of what we “know” is true; our sense of self stands upon the ideas we are identified with. God gives us the will to choose what we want. What’s not up to us is everything that leads up to the moment of choice. Pain is the passage that can lead to revelation, to a brand new understanding and identity.