The Journey of Pain

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”- Revelation‬ ‭21:4‬

Pain is never a fun subject to talk about, but we deal with it in our lives. Pain can be seen in many ways such as physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. In these five areas, the pain sticks in our minds. Right now I bet you can remember a pain you had in 2019. We are so quick to remember the pain before the joy in our lives. Why? Pain produces strength. Pain produces endurance. (James 1:2-3) Pain produces our purpose. Pain leads us to be vulnerable. Pain leads us to be dependent. One thing is for sure, pain is never going away as much as we pray for it.

So how? How can I deal with pain? How can I deal with the pain of not being good enough for anyone? How can I deal with the pain that I cannot find a job? How can I deal with the pain that made me disabled to be independent? How can I deal with the pain of losing a close friend/family member through death? We run to the Father. I didn’t say walk nor skip, but run. We need to make God our first response, not our last resort. (Matthew 6:33) He is the creator of our lives since we are His masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10) He never promised a perfect life, but He did promise to be close to us when we are in pain. (Psalms 34:18)

The funny thing about pain is we need it. My pastor did a sermon called “No Pain, No Gain”, and he was right with the topic. If we have no pain, we can’t grow. If we have no pain, then we assume we are perfect. If we have no pain, then we don’t need God. We need the pain even if we don’t like it. We need the pain to progress to our purpose in my life. We need the pain to rely on God, not people. We need the pain to remind ourselves that, in Christ, when I am most vulnerable is when I am most valuable to the Kingdom. I thank God for pain for I am seeing that my life is full of testimonies through God’s grace. Let your pain help someone today and forever. The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.