Lessons Learned In Pain

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Hello Bravehearted Beauties! Is it really Friday?!?! Whew! What a crazy week! And not in the typical crazy busy kind of way that most of us feel this time of year. {Especially those of us with school age children.} It was more like crazy physical pain that had me asking my neighbor where the nearest emergency room was. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through Monday night in the comfort of my own home.

But here’s the really crazy thing: I felt peace in the midst of the pain. {That crazy Philippians 4:7 kind of peace!} I had a strong sense that my pain wasn’t something a hospital could heal. It felt like God was doing a deeper work…and the physical pain was a sign that I needed to rest and let the healing happen. I felt like God was doing some kind of invisible open heart surgery, and I just needed to lay myself down and trust Him do whatever is needed. I can’t even believe I’m saying that out loud on the internet. {I’m pretty sure my parents might think I’ve lost my rational, analytical, intellectual mind right about now! Wink!}

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Oh, and just so I don’t leave you hanging, I never went to the emergency room and am feeling much better today. No need to worry. {Though if you know a fantastically gifted holistic practitioner in Nashville or Franklin, I’m still looking for one who feels like a good fit. I’m missing my amazing team in Houston!}

So if I’m okay, why tell you about the pain? I asked myself this very question. But the pain isn’t the point. It’s the lessons learned in the midst. And while I can’t unpack it all just yet, I have this crazy feeling that a few of you may need these words sooner than later. So I’m just going to trust God with my words and hope to give you whatever He has for you.

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A few lessons learned in the pain:

1. Rest is a battle position. Have you ever heard that expression before? It’s new to me, but it feels so true in my spirit. Rest goes against our natural instincts in the midst of a fight…or in the midst of a busy season. But when God calls you into rest, it comes with a promise that He will fight your battles for you. Remember the words I shared here a few weeks ago? The Lord will fight for us; all we have to do is be still. All we have to do is REST and let Him fight? Really? What if we really believed that rest is a battle position? How might that redeem your view of rest? Would it give you permission to rest? Maybe even a calling to rest? When God calls us into rest, I’ve learned He’s up to something good. And big.

2. Your pain doesn’t heal you; God’s does. His stripes, his wounds, his blood shed for you on the cross…that’s what heals you. It is finished. No need to carry this emotional pain in your spirit any longer. No need to stuff it down until it manifests in your physical body. {Physical pain can serve as a “check engine” light for hidden emotional pain.} No need to believe that pain is all you’ll ever know. Healing has come in the person of Jesus and remains available to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m not exactly sure how to go about healing in His name, but I know Healer is part of who God is, and I know He has power to do far more than most of us ask or believe.

3. Pain isn’t part of your identity. Some of you have been in pain for so long that you feel like it’s who you are. But only God can tell you who you are. And not once does He say pain is how He sees you. You may feel pain, but pain doesn’t define you. Pain may be your teacher for a while, it may be your path to purpose and passion, it may be the thing that increases your dependence on God, or the cry that brings you to your knees before God for the first time. But it doesn’t have to become you. Ask God for some new words about who you are. I know He’d love to tell you!

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If you’re still reading, I honor you. Most of us are afraid of pain. I was. We’re afraid of our own pain and we’re uncomfortable when others are in pain for too long. We don’t know what to do with it. We don’t know how to fix it. So we run from it, hide it, try to prevent it or avoid it. But pain doesn’t have to be a scary, bad, forever thing. It can be a gift that produces far greater goodness in us than we could ever know without it. Beauty from brokenness. 

I don’t wish you pain. I wish you healing. But I also wish you revelation and honesty about whatever pain you carry…so that deep healing can come into every hidden, hurting place. Here’s what you need to know today: you are not alone in your pain. You are never alone. Jesus was called “Man of Sorrows” for a reason. He knows every kind of pain. And He promises to be particularly close to you in your particular pain {Psalm 34:18}. And not to keep you there, but ultimately, to bind it up set you free {Isaiah 61}. Now THAT is good news!

One last thing for you. My theme song this week: It Is Well. Enjoy!

Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can’t see

And this mountain that’s in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea

YES GOD!