January 23, 2014
-
Growing through Pain
Our good, good Lord is sometimes not content to just take away our pain, even though sometimes we might beg Him for just that. Much like a good fitness trainer, He is more about coaching us to a place of greater life – true, rich, full, life beyond what we can imagine or ask for. He can see us living in that life so clearly, despite all our current flaws! So sometimes we ask Him to relieve pain, but it seems He desires to lead us through pain in a way that grows us in the wisdom that leads to a life with less of some types of pain. And it seems He desires to lead us through pain in way that grows us to a place of more strength to endure more of other types of pain.
A few years ago, for about a year, I went through by far the most excruciatingly difficult emotional pain I had ever experienced in my life. For the first 9 months, especially, it was relentless. Hundreds of times I cried out to Him for relief. Occasionally He brought it, for hours at a time. First, and early on, He gave me hope that He had something wonderful for me on the other side, through a vision of Him carrying me away from my hopeless situation to a hillside full of hope and peace and beauty. Then, He began leading me through my pain – through loving brothers and sisters, through scripture, through words I heard from Him, and through things He opened my eyes to see. He wasn’t content to take away my pain. He wanted me to grow, to change, to be transformed, to a new man.
If He had just taken away my pain, I might have stayed the same person, sought out the same things in life, and ended up in the same situations. Instead, He led me through a transformation into a man who wants more of what He wants, one who craves the purity of living in His ways, despite the challenge of that. It is sometimes exhausting, but, having exhausted myself previously in the pursuit of things which were not from Him, I find it less burdensome to exhaust myself in the pursuit of those things which lead to eternal joy.
