comments:
I'm sorry you're going through this. I would be traumatized by that too. I have jaw clenching issues that have caused me a lot of pain, but I haven't had lockjaw. It's in my family history, though, as my grandma had it during a dental procedure. As far as the faith issue, here is what I'm observing. A traumatic or painful event can feel like God is letting us down because a part of us believes God should have protected us and kept it from happening. The reality is that God doesn't always alleviate suffering and he can allow any trial into our lives that he sees fit in order to cause us to grow and lean on him more. Even so, we know he will be there with us the entire time, holding our hand and guiding us through the process. A good example of this is Joni Eareckson-Tada, quadriplegic who has experienced and continues to experience a lot of physical pain. I recommend reading her book, "A Place of Healing: Wresting with the mysteries of suffering, pain, and God's sovereignty." Even if it's not something you have time to read before your procedure, I recommend reading it at some point. I've gone through it twice and it's so helpful. It helps to get a real person's perspective who has gone through intense physical suffering and how she has trusted God through it and the many things she has learned. Here is a short 4 minute video where she talks about her pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIZ1EVtHCgU And then one more book dealing with pain is an autobiography by Kim Phuc Phan Thi titled: Fire Road: The Napalm Girl’s Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace. Kim endured extensive burns from a bomb that dropped, burning off her clothes and nearly killing her. The pain was constant. Her story is amazing and definitely worth reading. It deals with forgiveness as well.