Pain

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!! I am so glad to be back and to be writing again!! It has certainly been a while … but I am back!!

Today I wanted to talk about this four letter word - pain. This four letter word can change peoples lives. Pain is something we all have in common. There is not one person on earth that has not experienced pain in some way. Pain looks different to other people and it comes in many different ways. Pain can come from suffering from addictions, mental disorders, eating disorders. Pain can come from the loss of a loved one. Pain can come from bullying. Pain can come when you are going through recovery. Some experience pain physically and others emotionally. There are many different variances to pain, but in the end … pain is pain. 

I may never be able to experience the pain of a widow who lost their spouse after 50 some years of marriage. I may never understand the pain of a mother who lost their child. I may never experience the pain of soldiers and the trauma they have gone through. I may never be able to experience certain pain but I have certainly dealt with my own pain. I think pain can connect us as a people. There are few things that connect us so globally and universally and pain is one of those things because no matter who you are - you have experienced pain.

I have been dealing with some things in my life that have caused great pain for me. I could go into detail and maybe I will at some point but just not today. What I want to talk about is the One who experienced ALL pain. I debated about sharing my current struggles with y’all but I decided to hold off for now because I want you to be able to see through the lens of your pain … not mine. Nonetheless, my pain got me thinking about pain. 

As I said earlier I can’t understand certain kinds of pain because I have never been married or I have never gone to war or never been physically injured in a traumatic way. But when talking to people and listening to others tell me their story I can relate to their pain as best as I can because of the pain I have felt. And vice versa … same goes for you. You will not be able to understand all the variances of pain - thank goodness. It’s a good thing because we couldn’t handle it if we had to feel and go through every type of pain out there. We would die. 

But that got me thinking about the Lord and how He is the only One here on earth that can identify and understand my pain and your pain. He knows the depth of your pain more than anyone else here on earth. He can identify with every single human being's pain. 

The thing about pain is, it comes from sin. Pain is the product of sin. We live in a fallen world. Evil people do evil things. We get sick, we get in accidents. There is death all because we live in a fallen, sinful world. 

The reason Jesus can understand and does understand the depth of our pain is because He came and took on the sin of the world. He took ALL the sin of the world and died for your sin and mine. So He understands the very depths of pain. He understands your pain and mine more than anyone else here on earth. 

I am not going to lie, this round of struggles has given me a lot of pain - pain that I didn’t know I would have to go through. If I am honest, I am angry and weary and sick of dealing with struggles that break me to the point of feeling like I can’t get back up. If I am really honest with you guys, I want to blame the Lord for what He is taking me through. I want to be angry at Him and pull away from Him. I am currently having a hard time trusting Him and having faith that things will work out. Because as far as I can see … the outcome of what I am dealing with is going to hurt no matter how this gets resolved. 

*Quick Disclaimer: For the record, I have so much to be thankful for. I know there are so many other people that have it harder than me. I feel weak for even being this weary with these current dealings. Other people have it so much harder and yet have better attitudes than me. I have so much to be thankful for. I could write a whole paragraph in a second with things I have to be thankful for. So overall, everything is fine. It’s just, God is clever and knows how to create situations in which I have to look to Him to get me through. He has a way of taking us through pain in order to draw us closer to Him and to make us look more like Him. And so that we can understand more and more of what He did for us by dying on the cross.

Which gets me back to pain. He took on the sin and pain of the world so that we might have life! I could be angry at Him - and believe me I have been. But I am fighting that because He is not taking me through pain to hurt me or to harm me or to break me. He knows better than anyone that from pain can come the best rewards and the best gifts! See, from His pain, His death, came eternal life for you and for me! I can live forever and ever with Him all because He went through pain - and pain so excruciating that I will never be able to understand it.

I think it is precious that even though pain comes from sin … God can take it and use it for our good! How cool is that? He is always taking what Satan means for bad and using it for our good. Pain can be a great teacher in this world … a most painful one … but a good one. God has allowed the outcome of pain to be good if we let Him be in charge of the outcome! 

Read that carefully … IF we let Him be in charge of the outcome. That means the outcome might not be what we want. The outcome might hurt worse than the pain we are currently going through. But if we surrender to the outcome He wants, then in the end … even if it is years down the road … He can take the pain we suffered through and use it for our good. You grow from pain and if you allow the Lord to work in your life, He will use it to benefit you in ways we cannot even imagine. How do I know? Because I have lived it. And because we have examples of it all throughout life and in life.

So as I am going through these current challenges, (that again are not all that horrible just hard for me because God knows what I need and what He can use to mold me) I am reminding myself to not blame God but to talk to Him. He is my Friend who suffered for me and knows the depth of my pain. He, after all, knows the deepest pain that can ever be felt. So He is the best comforter and the Greatest Physician who can heal any wound or any pain … if we let Him.

I am trying to get out of the way and talk to Him and hold onto Him instead of pulling away from Him because He knows what I need and He will give me everything I need in order to heal from this pain … if I let Him. 

I hope this is encouraging to you. I never know who reads these blogs but I know everyone has experienced pain in some way. I encourage you to talk to the One who knows your pain. He knows it better than anyone here on earth. So talk to Him! Stay close to Him … it’s worth it, I promise. 

~ Natalie