Just after midnight, one of my molars decided sleep was an unnecessary luxury. Just three days from finishing a chapter in my career, and instead of coasting toward the finish line, I’m bargaining with ibuprofen, sweating profusely, and questioning whether I’m slowly turning into a chipmunk.

Sleep? Gone. Peace? Not in this head. I’ve got a fever, a throbbing toothache (and headache), and hope to get a little sleep until I can get in to see my dentist.

But here’s the part that caught me off guard: in between the waves of pain, something else started to surface…perspective.

Because isn’t it just like life to throw something unexpected right before the finish line? A kind of final exam to test not just your patience, but your faith? I wanted this last week to be easy, to feel like closure. Instead, I’m getting a reminder that I’m not in control. I never was.

Sometimes it’s not about the smooth ending. It’s about the strength God grows in us when everything hurts, and still, we do our best, we have to finish up.

This toothache? It’s not just pain. It’s a metaphor (and a very annoying one). It’s life saying, “You still have some fight in you. Let’s see it.”

So here I am: uncomfortable, tired, but also grateful. Because I’m learning that resilience doesn’t show up when things are easy. It grows in the ache, the fever, and the moments when you’re whispering prayers between sips of lukewarm tea.

If you’re in a painful or uncertain place too, maybe you’re not being punished. Maybe you’re being prepared.

God doesn’t always deliver us from the pain, but He does meet us in it. And sometimes, that’s the miracle.

(Still, if He wants to throw in a quick dental miracle before my last day, I won’t argue.)