Pain has many hidden purposes.

I hope you’ll let it teach you.

But I can’t promise that you’ll like it for a good long while.

 

If we must go through it, at least, we can gain something from it, right?

 

Jesus knows how to use it for our good and that is something I’ve had to cling to through many valley seasons.

 

Pain brings an unexpected exposure.

 

It exposes what’s hidden in us and it usually exposes what’s hidden in others.

 

What was in Job’s friends was exposed in his own grief. Self-righteousness showed itself and compassion seemed lacking.

 

Think back to your painful moments: You learned who was with you all the way, didn’t you?

 

You learned that hugs were a secret balm from Heaven.

 

You learned people avoided hearts in pain, yes? Which inflicted pain on top of pain. Am I right?

 

You learned some didn’t want to hear about the pain at all and just wanted you to “get over it.”

While Jesus showed you the significance of affirming people’s pain so they could then heal, correct?

 

Even Christ, Himself, is beautifully exposed through our own pain.

 

We see His ability to draw near to a broken heart.

 

We see Heaven come to earth in the way He becomes a Father to His child.

 

We see how He is patient and kind in our distress and we learn how to also become more like “that” which we experienced through Him.

 

We learn the truth that He really does never leave us while simultaneously seeing how He becomes a literal hiding place safe for the bottling of tears.

 

We get a glimpse first hand of His long-suffering nature even when we have erupted like a volcano from all the building pressures of heart emotions.

 

With the pain often comes unseen insecurities, the fear of losses, undealt with heart needs, hidden anxieties, and a host of other issues that at times shocked me upon their arrival.

 

But what do you do?

You courageously deal with them so they can no longer deal with you.

 

Some of us had pain take us back to that little girl wanting so badly to trust people. To be accepted and to fit in.

 

We had to learn to lean into the Lord, not people.

 

We had to see He would be our “go to” for every kind of haunting pain.

 

The PTSD caused me to become diligent at renewing my mind, processing honestly my pain, and losing all the religious cover-ups.

 

Christ wasn’t really into that little deception because the father of that was still the “wicked one” hoping I’d never come into the light of the truth.

 

He taught me how to be patient in the process and, honestly, it wasn’t always pretty.

 

But Jesus was so faithful in my pain that He pulled me into a place in His heart I had not yet been to.

 

A place of deeper security, deeper faith, and deeper trust.

 

A place where facades fell and mirages melted away.

 

A place where the living water began to fill voids with the power of the Spirit and a newness of life came flooding in.

 

All because He never turns His eyes from a heart in pain.

 

Never.

 

Honestly, I’ve learned…He turns His gaze right to it.

 

If you’re in pain today, I can tell you that Jesus is looking right at you at this very moment, and He wants you to know that He sees it all.

 

And maybe, just maybe, you could see Him as the loving Father that He is with His arms spread wide open whispering, “Run to me, little one, I know your every need.”

 

Whatever He has allowed to be unexpectedly exposed through your pain, He is fully willing, and able, to also heal.