Growth Through Pain

Pain. Suffering is an inescapable part of life on earth. Pain brought on by our own doing or pain that is not a result of anything that we have done. Our initial reaction to pain is to minimize it as quickly as possible. The phrase - medicating the pain away at all costs - seems to be one of those bedrock life principles. Most people run away from pain rather than running toward pain.

Christ followers are not exempt from pain - or attempts of medicating the pain away at all costs. However, I remember during one particularly painful season when I sensed that what I needed the most was not to be pain free, but rather to experience God joining me as I was experiencing pain. I remember saying, if I am going to go through this, then I want to come out on the other side, with a greater experience and understanding of God - of God’s love, God’s joy, God’s peace, God’s sovereignty - of God. In essence, I wondered, what of God can I experience through the painful season that I would otherwise not be able to experience.

Maybe you can identify with this? What is God wanting me to experience him more fully through the pain, through times of suffering? After all, God is in control and he alone has the power and ability to turn mourning into dancing as David expresses in Psalm 30:11-12 - You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

Pain is not pleasant. There is a natural built in sense of self preservation, self protection. But the growth and the maturity that results from the pain, from times of suffering, gives enough of motivation to look beyond the present pain toward future deeper experience and understanding of God.

Recently I read the following five ways to grow and mature through the pain, instead of running away from pain:

Find safe places to process the pain
Approach and express emotions
Process the emotions of pain all the way through
Reflect and Reorder Priorities
Use your experiences with pain to help others.

*These five come from Todd Hall book entitled - The Connected Life

Over the next several days, I’m going to unpack each of these a bit further. You are welcome to the journey. We will be using the Bible book of Job and seeing how this man’s journey through suffering illustrates these five markers on the pathway of experiencing and understanding God more deeply in times of suffering and pain.