As I journey through life, I am surprised that pain takes me so off guard. Pain is inevitable in a fallen world, stemming from Adams decision so long ago, and still reeking havoc in our lives today. The question is not if pain will happen, but when. Then the choice lies, how will we respond to that pain? Will we offer God our pain, or allow ourselves to wallow in our misery?

God is so caring, so we can trust His promises when our hearts hurt. When we want to shout at the wall in frustration, God’s promises need to be our beacon as a reminder.”All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.” These are the promises that are true and right.

Our vision is sometimes blurred, because our pain doesn’t always play fair. It sometimes takes our heartache and puts claims on us and/or our life, turning our joy into bitterness and our happiness into anger. Thankfully God sees the vast scope and purpose for our pain even when we don’t, “restoring what the locusts has eaten.” (Joel 2:25)

These moments of restoration and healing is a freedom few can compare. When we are in our big, hot mess we don’t know how to get out of, God stops us in our tracks to push us back on the right course. 

My wake up call came with a flood. 

It was not a huge flood but just big enough to be annoying. The rain came down and flooded our basement about 1-2 feet deep. The fire department came. The water left. But as cleanup began I noticed what the flood had ruined… some of my tangible memories.

Memories… lots of memories saturated with water. Letters that I had saved for years of my life. As I laid them flat to dry, flashbacks of this season flooded my mind. 

They were from friendships and loved ones who cared enough to write and build a community in my life. I had lost that along the way. Bitterness and sadness had built bigger walls than I knew. At this point I didn’t even know how to cultivate these relationships, and I had more of these relationships than I could count. 

You can’t compartmentalize pain and think that life goes on as normal. If you don’t let God heal the places that feel beyond repair, you literally will start decomposing in your pain. 

The flood was a visual of my fruit; the blessings that had sprung…from following after Christ… was being ripped away from me; relationship by relationship.

Yet God is still faithful. He heals and restores for His glory. I needed the flood. I needed something to remind me what I was losing, rather than keeping me fixated on what I lost. 

So where are you? Has your pain taken dominance over you? Or have you used that trial and the lessons you have learned to help others?

Everyday we have a choice to allow the healing that God offers to take root, or to continue to use our time and resources on things that are beyond our control.

We may throw up our hands 1,000 times a day in disgust of what was not the perfect story. “Why, God?” “Why them and not me?” “What did I do?” Or we can say, “Here I am, God, send me,” as we hold up our two mites, like the poor women in Mark 12. She could have been more focused on all the money she did not have to give, but instead she changed her perspective. She was going to offer her last two mites, and offer it with a heart of worship.

He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

So whatever you have left to offer, do so. Offer up your pain, your gifts, your love, no matter how small it feels at first. You are never beyond repair to be used by a loving and merciful God.

Jesus picks up the broken pieces of His creation. Examining the cracks, scars, frailties, and pieces that don’t seem to fit right anymore He turns it into a mosaic masterpiece. An artistic compilation that only works with broken pieces.

Some Steps You Can Take

• Submit to God and offer Him what you can. Maybe today it’s thinking of one thing you are thankful for. Maybe tomorrow it’s helping out your neighbor. Everyday is a new day.
• Throughout your journey, look for ways to say “Yes” to God. Eventually, when your heart is ready, maybe you will be able to use your pain to encourage someone or empathize with someone.
• You may never be happy that a certain event happened, but there may come a time that you start to appreciate other aspects of your story that have sprung as a result of your pain.

My brother wrote me this note: