“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul prospers.”
3 John 1:2
Picking up the pieces.
Is your life going the way you thought it would? Maybe it’s going better or just plain different than you expected? If you’re anything like me, your life is probably turning out very differently than you planned. Sometimes I feel like I’m picking up the pieces of a life I never thought I’d be living. Can you relate?
I’ve wanted a lot of things for my life. Marriage, job success (like a dream job at Disney), and a cooler personality, among other things. The truth is that sometimes dreams don’t come true. What we want or expect to happen doesn’t always happen, at least not when or how we think it will. But sometimes the freedom and healing we experience in laying down our dreams and expectations are worth the pain we go through in the process.
Although my life isn’t what I thought it would be at my age, I can honestly say I’m beginning to have the best years of my life because of where I am in my relationship with God. The outward circumstances don’t feel ideal, but my heart and soul are profiting immensely.
If you’re looking for an article that tells you how to improve your circumstances and make your life go perfectly, this one isn’t for you. But, if you want to know how I’m growing with God and stepping into what He has for my life even through the reality of painful or difficult seasons, then keep reading!!
Purpose in the pain.
Pain isn’t wrong. It’s a normal part of our experiences in a broken world when things don’t go the way we hope they will. When our expectations or misconceptions about life are confronted with reality, there may be disappointment or discomfort, but there is also healing when we seek God through the process.
God can use pain to show us areas that need Him the most. Without pain we wouldn’t know what needs to be healed. Our deepest hurts and wounds often reveal where we need God the most in our lives. Our deepest disappointments, grief, pain, regrets, and bitterness can be the source of our greatest healing. Where does life hurt the most for you right now? What has been coming to the surface recently?
Often times we run from pain. We run from the truth. We don’t want to experience hard feelings. Maybe we prefer to hide or cover the wounds than bring them to the light and feel the pain. And yet, to be healed, we need to let that wound come to the light, even if it hurts.
God wants to heal us from our emotional wounds, misconceptions about life, fears, doubts, and deepest hurts. He wants us to be truly whole. He knows the wounds are there, and I believe that sometimes He allows our circumstances to bring those wounds to the light where they can be acknowledged and healed. He would rather us endure a bit of pain and come to Him for healing than to keep everything hidden in our comfort zone.
Pressing through pain.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
God is good and wants good things for us. Yet, when dreams or desires aren’t fulfilled, or expectations are left wanting, we often blame God. We feel the pain and stop there with the question, “Why, God? Why me?” We even expect God to fix our circumstances according to our timing and the way we think it should be. We wonder why God would allow the pain and misery if He really loves us.
Rather than turning to God for help, we often point our fingers at Him.
Something I believe to be true, as I’ve seen it unfolding in my own life, is this: God uses the trials, the setbacks, and the breaking points to shape us into a new person. He may not cause the situations that grieve us, but He never wastes them. He will use them to shape our character and make us more focused on the things of heaven than the things of earth. We will not be the same person on the other side of suffering.
Without the pain, we never experience healing. Without the dying of our plans, His plans would never come to fruition. Whatever our loving God allows in our lives He will use for good. There is no setback, mistake, detour, or disappointment that can separate us from God’s love for us. Too often, though, we settle in the valley of discouragement. We let the hard become our story. We let the pain become our identity.
The place of breaking and deepest pain can become your most beautiful healing and source of joy if you will place that wound in the Father’s hand.
God can take whatever is broken and turn it for good. You can’t even imagine how much good He has in store for you. Don’t camp in the valley of disappointment. Will you trust Him with your story?
Takeaway Action/Challenge: What are some areas of your life that seem painful or unlikely to be used by God? Are there marks on your past or difficulties in your present? Where is your pain, your mistake, your circumstance, your fear, your trigger? Where is the place that feels the hardest to heal? Choose one area where you can start inviting God into that pain to heal it and lead you forward.
