Singing Christ’s hope when chronic pain and illnesses abound

Lists of uncontrollable symptoms. Adding-up ailments. Incurable. Chronic. Pain. Whack-a-mole managing.

You too?

I’m so thankful my husband drives us to church to worship and praise our Lord with our church family. Sometimes, I’m sitting in agony, but God always fills me with His strengthening love among His people. 

As we began to sing this song in a recent service, God flooded me with such healing, as it echoed this truth to my hurting body:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:19-20 ESV).

How can I particularly glorify our Lord in the illnesses of my earthly body until it’s perfectly restored and completely healed in the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21:4)? In any moment He’s given to me? 

I’m sharing this today on my birthday, with awe that He’s kept me alive longer on this earth, now with two lifesaving brain surgeries but managing much…chronic.

Singing Christ’s hope when chronic pain and illnesses abound

As a suffering Christian, music educator, and a retired music therapist, God has urged me through His Word to begin sharing some research and a bit of teaching, in addition to Scripture and song “praise interruptions.” Because He’s given me unique professional learning to share about the cognitive, emotional, physical, and spiritual healing from our Lord when we sing Christ’s hope as we suffer. 

So, this week’s blog post is a little different, but it helps to explain why I’ve shared “praise interruptions” and accompanying playlists for the last four years. I’ll offer bits of teaching on the blog and YouTube channel this new year.

If you also suffer from chronic illnesses and pain as I do, you know…

Currently, about 20% of the world’s adult population suffers from chronic pain, defined as persistent pain lasting more than three months.¹ This pain affects interrelated physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual aspects of daily living. It’s particularly challenging to manage due to its unpredictable nature.² This, in turn, often causes reduced social interaction.³ 

Lord, this is so hard.

Singing Christ’s hope into isolation, loneliness, and loss of chronic illness and pain

Commonly, “the experiences of chronic pain sufferers are often trivialized by doctors as well as family and friends who doubt the reality of their pain.”⁴ Chronic pain and illness sufferers often enter a resulting “’misery circle,’ in which illness forces social isolation and social isolation worsens the illness.”⁵ 

People suffering from chronic illness and pain often experience a

 loss of self…observ[ing] their former self-images crumbling away without the simultaneous development of equally valued new ones. As a result of their illnesses, these individuals suffer from (1) leading restricted lives, (2) experiencing social isolation, (3) being discredited, and (4) burdening others.⁶

Lord, help me.

The power of singing Christ’s hope, enduring through suffering songs that echo God’s Word

I’ve dealt with it for 35 years now. God has carried, rescued, and helped me endure by having me…

1. tell Him every bit of the pain and loss
2. hear His answer in His Word
3. and literally sing His Word’s truths back to Him in suffering songs. 

“Singing Christ’s hope” is His healing and sustaining gift in lamenting to Him, but always with a turnaround to our gospel hope in Christ, no matter how “chronic” our suffering on earth may be, a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:9).

Without the suffering song that “turns around,” I quickly will spiral into feeling hope-less, making the physical symptoms so much worse!

Lord, Your Word tells me this is true:

For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds (Ps. 57:10 ESV).

So, my suffering song to You is:

Great is Thy faithfulness.

Morning by morning, new mercies I see. 

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. 

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

(“Great is Thy Faithfulness,” Chisholm, T. O., 1923)

The power of singing Christ’s hope, in and through and TO Jesus Christ who understands our chronic illnesses and pain

Jesus says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Lk. 12:6-7 ESV).

Unlike many humans, He does not trivialize our losses, and we are never a burden to Him, the One who compassionately understands pain more than anyone.

Jesus Christ remains our suffering servant who willingly endured it…for us. 

This week’s playlist gift of “suffering songs” and other resources

May this week’s playlist gift be a healing balm of “suffering songs” for you today, if this is your situation too. Following the flow of this writing, we bring our agonies to Jesus honestly, we sing His truth, lifting our voices in praise to our Lord. The songs then help us interrupt our pain cycles with His “pain management” gift of music! Help us to turn-around to praising You, Lord!

If this might bless you, sign up here and it will come to your email. Or perhaps other resources will be helpful? See below.

First Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

YouTube Channel for encouraging Scriptures and calming music

Podcast and Scriptures, specifically music therapy-inspired for those with chronic illness and pain

Devotional Bible study prayer journals, available on Amazon. Click for details.

1. Irons, J. Y., & Hancox, G. (2021). Arts for health: Singing. Emerald Publishing.
   
   Irons, J. Y., Kuipers, P., Wan, A., & Stewart, D. E. (2020a). Group singing has multiple benefits in the context of chronic pain: An exploratory pilot study. Pain Management Nursing, 21(3),. 259-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2019.07.008
   
   Irons, J. Y., Sheffield, D., Ballington, F., & Stewart, D. E. (2020b). A systematic review on the effects of group singing on persistent pain in people with long‐term health conditions. European Journal of Pain, 24(1), 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1485  ↩︎
2. Low, M. Y., Lacson, C., Zhang, F., Kesslick, A., & Bradt, J. (2020). Vocal music therapy for chronic pain: A mixed methods feasibility study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 26(2), 113–122. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0249  ↩︎
3. Lee, J. H. (2106). The effects of music on pain: A meta-analysis. Journal of Music Therapy, 53(4), 430–477. ↩︎
4. Bradt, J., Norris, M., Shim, A. M., Gracely, E. J., & Gerrity, P. (2016). Vocal music therapy for chronic pain management in inner-city African Americans: A mixed methods feasibility study. Journal of Music Therapy, 53(2), 178–206, p. 202. ↩︎
5. Irons et al., 2020a, p. 262 ↩︎
6. Charmaz, K. (1983). Loss of self: A fundamental form of suffering in the chronically ill. Sociology of Health and Illness, 5(2), 168-195, p. 168. ↩︎