I have a love hate relationship with pain. When you are accustomed to living with it as a companion it seems to wear on you. It is like one of those guests that come and eat all your food, won't clean up after themselves and refuse to leave. You plead and beg for it to be taken away but nothing helps. You are stuck, forced companions. The problem is that it is what it is, painful. No one wants to live with that. You cannot live in separate sides of the house. You cannot take a break from one another. When there is no relief you are I say it again stuck.
Until the Great Healer decides otherwise to lift it. Stuck you are. So what do you do?
You have a decision. A choice. You can decide if it you let it make you better or worse. It is a choice. You cannot change your outward circumstances much of the time. It is like a prison sentence. You are locked inside without the key. However, you can respond in a way that will release you while you live behind the bars. Otherwise the whole process you are going through is in vain. God is using it to refine you and make you more like Him. You will emerge more beautiful through it if you let it do its work. That is IF. A choice. You must let it do its work.
God is weaving a great story in your life. An author knows that any great story worth reading has to have its conflicts. This pain is just one of those. There is a Rescuer and it is HIM. When characters go through pain they develop into stronger characters IF they are trained by it. IF.
Take a silly example, Phineas and Ferb's wanna be villain Dr. Doof. He had a bad childhood and was neglected by his parents. We could even use the word abused loosely here. His brother was openly favored by them while he was left to be the lawn gnome in the yard. As they grow his brother becomes major and poor Dr. Doof uses his time plotting to get back at the past. He doesn't let his pain make him better he chooses the path of revenge of taking things in his own hands. In the worlds eyes it may make him look strong but in reality he really is weak. Forgiveness would set him free.
Now look at a real example from the Bible. Acts 16 lets us peer into the life of Paul and Silas when they were thrown into prison for no wrong doing. They first were severely beaten and put in strong lockdown. Now talk about a prison of pain. Yet how do we see them responding? At midnight they are singing hymns and praying. Yes! They are looking to their Savior and Lord. And you know what He did? He shook the prison and broke the chains. Yet they did not run away instead they told the jailer about the Lord. The jailers entire family all came to know HIM. They were God focused. They kept their eyes on their Savior and HIS power rested on them. He breaks chains in His due time to set us free in time that brings Him supreme glory. Their wounds were still fresh and stung. It still hurt but they were free. In the process we are being refined and made pure and more into His image.
Yet it is a choice. How will we respond to it? The villains of the times responded in the wrong ways. That is what made them evil. They chose the dark places. They refused to respond to God. They let fear reign instead of love. Fear has to control. Love can let go because it knows that God has your best interest at heart. His perfect love casts out fear.
Are you in a prison of some sort? Maybe not even of your own choosing. How will you respond? Your freedom depends on it. Let us know how we can pray for you. We will walk with you through this.
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