Pain. It can be positive or negative. It can stretch us to our breaking point or water us to grow. I've heard my Pastor many times over the years say that there's "pain in the process" and boy is there so much truth to that statement. Pain is inevitable and at some point you will endure painful things.
Pain can come from death, physical injury, broken relationships, church hurt, or lost love.
Pain is usually found hiding behind disappointment, shame, heartbreak or offense.
It typically is not something that we anticipate because most of the time it blindsides us and breaks us down all in one foul-swoop.
Thankfully we have a choice. A choice between two options in how we process this pain. We can never remove the initial sting of pain, but, we can choose how we view it, manage it and handle it. When you negatively approach pain, you surrender to it, letting it define every aspect of your life. This is when the emotional rollercoaster starts and you find yourself riding it until it crashes and burns and begins to mentally and physically affect you.
When you positively approach pain, you make a choice to feel it for a moment, decide what you want to believe about it and then refuse to let the feelings control you. Now I'm aware this is all much easier said than done and I also know it's going to take great will power to choose the high road of positivity. This doesn't mean you won't stumble and fall while on said road, it just means that with every misstep you have on your journey, you'll fight back a little harder pressing on toward freedom from the pain.
Over the years I have felt pain. Some of the deepest pains I've dealt with have made me the person I am today. This is not said to make you think I have it all together and I am certainly not sharing it to say I am perfect in how I've handled it. But what it has done is taught me to show grace to others when they are going through their own painful situations. Because the reality is, there is absolutely NO manual for how pain should or shouldn't be handled. And until you've walked the journey of pain that someone else is going through, you don't get a say in how they should deal with it. Just simply be there for them. No judgment, just grace.
As you read this, I challenge you to remember a painful time in your life. You will instantly be reminded of who helped pick you up each time you stumbled but also who abandoned you and made you feel less than. Don't be that second person. Choose to be the type of person who can love someone so loyally even when you can't make sense of how they're dealing with their pain. Jesus loved us, and even at our worst He continues to love us. He calls us to love others in that same way because pain is an imperfect emotion that simply needs grace to help support its process. So go on, go be the grace giver they need, because one day, you may need it in return.
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