“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 NIV
God has trusted you with this challenge. Life may not be the way you expected. What you dreamed of seems to have crashed and burned. It’s hard to envision what the future might look like.
And the pain. Well, the pain may be unlike any you’ve ever experienced before. It’s so deep and unfathomable. At times, it pours out. Other times, no one knows it’s there. But for you, it’s always there. Always under the surface. The pain doesn’t go away. You learn to live with chronic pain. It becomes part of you.
That certainly is not the life you envisioned, is it? A life where pain becomes part of you. But sometimes, that is the life God trusts you with. The key to accepting that kind of life is trust.
You can’t trust yourself to handle this. You and I must trust God when He allows pain to become part of us. We must trust what we know of His character, His goodness, His love.
Ultimately, what God wants from you and me when He allows pain to become part of us is to represent Him well in our world. To show that He is trustworthy, even in painful circumstances. To demonstrate what it looks like to walk in faith, because faith trusts what it can’t see. (Hebrews 11:6)
You and I can’t see God. We can’t see His plan. We can’t see the why. But if we believe that He is good and loving, then we must believe that He has a purpose in our pain. He has trusted us to live with trust. He has trusted us to represent Him well, not in spite of the pain, but because of the pain.
Dear friend, I don’t know your pain. Proverbs says that each heart knows its own pain. (Proverbs 14:10) But I do know that you didn’t ask for it, and it’s human to wish it would go away and to try to find ways to make it better.
What I believe God has said to me is to accept the pain as a gift. Not to just accept it as part of life, but to accept it as His gift of trust to me. When I do that, my pain becomes a vehicle to bring Him glory. And isn’t bringing Him glory a goal worth pursing?
Key Question: What do I do with the pain of life?
A Scripture to Consider: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 NIV
A YES Challenge: Prayerfully consider what it would mean to accept your pain as a gift.
Prayer: Father, life has not turned out the way I expected. There are some dreams I had that will never come to pass. You know the disappointments I face. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but this is the way it is. Help me learn to accept this pain as a gift of trust from You. I am not sure how to do it. Yet, my greatest dream is to live a life that honors You no matter what. Help me to do that well. Amen.
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