Being Different

From J.E. Tada's More Precious Than Silver

But I believe that being different---even having a stigma----can drive us closer to God....God has a special love for you, so look to Him in your pain. Whether it be physical or emotional, you may find that you'll be as blessed as Jabez
1 Chron 4:9  ⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,^[a] saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.”

I have always been, at least it seems like it to me, quite different from everyone else around me. Less so now that I am an adult, but as a child and teenager, vastly different in some ways. There was a time in my life in which I hated that I was different, yet I did not want to change, either, because I did not want to be anyone else. My "difference" at that time did indeed drive me closer to God. I leaned on Him, although maybe not the same way I do now. I felt His love for me as a dear, beloved daughter...someone important to Him, who held a special place in His Holy heart, like all of us do. That's one thing that is so amazing about God. He has so much love to give...so much time to give. He can be completely 100% with all of us all the time because He is not constrained by time. He has unconditional love, something we all crave deeply, whether we admit it or not...and He can give it to us! All we need do is believe Him, and love will wash over us, be available at all watches of the night, the worst illnesses, the worst financial crisis. God is love, and He just gives us Him. What a wonderful blessing!
With my physical pain, leaning on God is different than emotional pain. And I still lean with emotional pain, because of the frustrations of the limitations I have with RA. Yet God is there with outrageous support for physical pain too. The depths of God are unfathomable; He has so much strength to give out, ways to help us with any trial, suffering. All we need do is ask.