Pain is NOT Optional

Pain is NOT optional.
 
I don’t like pain. I’ve been running and hiding from it for the majority of my life and attempt to avoid it at all costs. Life is hard on this side of Heaven. People we love get sick and die before we’re ready to say goodbye, and relationships break our hearts. Our position in life sometimes revolves around the wrong things, like our finances or employment, and this causes a turmoil so deep inside that instead of running to the Solution, our Healer, we run further from Him. We get creative in our numbing agents, we become workaholics, shopaholics, and alcoholics. Sometimes we are addicted to busyness, entertainment, and people, anything to avoid feeling our feelings.

During a painful season, I always secretly hope “this time” will be the time I can skip the pain and get to the other side where the good stuff is without feeling it.

James 1:2-3, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
 
As a little girl, I was often terrified of the dark, thanks to my vivid imagination. I would lay in bed with the covers over my face, eyes squeezed as tightly as possible, frozen in fear, hoping if I just laid there long enough my mom would sense my need and come to my rescue. Now, my mom was amazing and attentive, but as she was sleeping peacefully on the other side of the house, she would have no idea her little girl was silently suffering and needing her desperately. There was always a point when I could no longer stand the pain, and I would muster the courage to find my voice and yell, “MOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYYY;” and magically, she would come and lay beside me until I fell back to sleep. I remember listening to her breathing, trying to sync my own breath to hers, knowing there was peace, rest, and comfort in that familiar pattern.

Psalm 147:3, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
 
I don’t think God is unaware of my pain, but I think He honors my stubbornness and refusal to ask for help. I think He, like my Mom, loves to comfort and be with me in my feelings, regardless of what the feelings are. What I am finally learning is that I have missed countless opportunities to trust God during those trials. Journeying through pain can be challenging, yet beyond it lies growth, maturity, and refinement. Sadly, this transformation often requires experiencing discomfort. I often find myself giving thanks for the blessings that become clear after facing the darkness with Him beside me, turning to Him for the rest and comfort that only He can provide.

Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
 
Prayer:
God, Please forgive me for the times I have hidden and run from situations that might cause me pain. I want to be close to You and trust You with all my heart, but I allow the fear of my feelings to control me, instead of releasing my fears and pain to You, the Healer of my heart, soul, and body. I trust that You have good plans for me, to prosper me and not to harm me, and I yield control to You, to walk with me through the hardships and bring me out on the other side. Help me to trust in Your plan, even when it’s hard to see. Amen.
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