Tag Archives: #pain

Spirituality

Life

“Life is hard. It’s harder when you’re stupid.”-John Wayne

I’m not certain why Wayne said that, or if he was talking to someone in particular. From what I understand, Wayne could be a little testy at times. Yet, he spoke the truth.

Life has ups and downs. Sometimes the ups are exhilarating. You feel like life could never get any better. And then it does!

The down periods are the ones we dread. We don’t welcome difficulties and we want to get through them as quickly as possible. But let’s look at this in a different way.

Resilience is built in the darkness. Those times, while difficult, are when we find our inner strength. We may not realize how strong we are until we need to find out.

Every experience, the good and the bad, prepares us for something else. We don’t have the luxury of knowing what that something else is. That’s for God alone to know.

Remember this when you’re going through dark times: God didn’t cause your pain. He allowed it. And He will use it to grow and develop you into the person you are meant to be.

These words might not ease your pain, but perhaps they give you a different, better perspective. Keep going…

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Spirituality

Strength Through Pain

Are you experiencing a difficult time in your life? If not now, the odds are that you will sometime in the future. I want to encourage you to flip the script on it when it happens.

Life can be very hard sometimes. God didn’t promise us an easy path. But He did give us a way through. Translation: rely more on God and less on ourselves during the dark times.

Resilience is built in the darkness. We learn that we can bounce back from the troughs of life. Our pain turns into strength. We might not like it at the time, but it can be used for good.

No matter how much social media wants us to believe that everyone has a perfect life, we know the truth. See pain as opportunity. Don’t dread it. Welcome it because better days are ahead…

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Spirituality

Forgetful

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you went in there? My favorite thing to forget is people’s names. Faces I remember. Names no.

Many people are carrying painful memories in their hearts. As humans, we cannot forget. God alone has that power. But we can forgive. Forgiveness changes the dynamics of the pain.

We don’t want to forgive because by forgiving them we feel like we are letting them off the hook. And they don’t deserve our forgiveness. This is all true, but forgiveness is for you, not the offender.

When you forgive someone, it’s like releasing an imaginary weight you have been carrying around. The offense no longer has any power or influence over you. You don’t forget. You release.

Forgiveness is hard, I know. It takes time. You cannot force it, but you can stay open to it. If you close the door to forgiveness, it’s really difficult to open it.

Keep the door open, just a tiny crack. See what happens…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Prepared

Solid preparation gives you confidence. If you’re about to take a test and you have studied properly, the odds are you will do well. Just “winging it” isn’t the best strategy.

Every experience we have in life prepares us for something else. This applies to the bad experiences as well as the good. We rarely have the luxury to know what we are being prepared for. I trust that God knows how he will use the difficult times in my life. Some of my hardest times have been used to help others. When the purpose becomes clear it strengthens my resolve and my trust.

If you are in the middle of a rough patch, or even if you are going through hell, I encourage you to keep moving through it. Your pain has purpose, whether you see it now or not…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Sightless

There’s more going on than what we can see. Much more. There isn’t a lot in the Bible about spiritual warfare, but there is enough to know it’s real and not the stuff fairy tales are made from.

To help you keep perspective, every time you are given a challenge please remember there is a spiritual reason as well as a purpose behind it. God alone allows pain and struggles for them to happen. Otherwise He wouldn’t be in control and all of this would be random.

We have a choice: we can blame God or we can rely on God in those moments. There is a tremendous amount of Biblical evidence which shows, undeniably, that relying on God to show us the way is the only answer. Yet, you must make your own decision about what you will do.

Even though we can’t see the spiritual realm, that doesn’t make it less real…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Stormy Times

Everyone experiences pain. You can’t escape it on this side of eternity. But what you do with your pain makes all the difference in the world.

Pain will either stifle you, shut you down, or pain can be used as fuel to achieve a higher purpose. It’s your choice always.

Fuel burns white hot. Let your painful experiences be ignited inside. Use your pain for the greater good…

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#inspiration

Pain and Void

Late yesterday afternoon I received a call from a good friend of mine. He was calling to let me know that his son had taken his own life a few days prior. I knew his son. In fact, a couple times per year “Mike” and I would catch a movie together. He was the sweetest kid you ever met, and he was only 18 years old.

Youth suicide is the #2 killer of our young people. The stressors kids are dealing with, along with the immeasurable damage caused by shutting down schools has exacerbated this malady.

Mike didn’t leave a note. In his final days he seemed happy. He was in college and had a job he enjoyed. Mike wasn’t a druggie or drinker. This one is a puzzle we may never be able to put together.

My friend and his family will forever wake up missing a valuable piece of their lives. Holidays will be different. Their pain will get better as time goes on, but the void will remain.

Be kind to everyone. We don’t know what lies beneath the surface…

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#inspiration

Painful

Pain is a tool, and pain has a purpose. No one escapes life on this side of eternity without experiencing pain.

Oftentimes we hide our pain from the world. We want everyone to believe we “have it all together.” But when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and openly share what we are going through, it creates intimacy with others. Our challenges in life can be used to encourage and inspire others.

So whatever you are experiencing or have experienced in the past, let go of your pride and share it with the world. You never know who you might help…

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#inspiration

Rejection

Everyone has been rejected, and rejection hurts. But it only hurts if you care about who is rejecting you.

Fortunately, rejection isn’t fatal and we eventually heal from it. But don’t let the pain be wasted. Use it as fuel to further your cause. Reach out to others who are hurting, not to commiserate but to share your experience, strength and hope.

I’ll say it again. Rejection hurts. Don’t waste the experience…

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