Fighting Pain

Pain is a funny thing. It has a way of pushing you down and knocking you around a bit. As pain begins to embrace you, its dreadful sting seeps into every crack of your life it can find. Pain has mastered the art of manipulation, too. It screams at you that you should never feel this way and therefore you need to do a better job at protecting yourself. So, you eagerly invite fear and unforgiveness in to take the place of the pain you once felt. It seems better this way, no one can enter in and no one can cause you to feel the sting of pain again. You’re safe here, just you and the walls you closed yourself behind. As you go about your days, fear tells you to sit back and let the dust of your past pile up. You wouldn’t dare touch it yet though, too much potential for pain to come back. So, it just keeps building. You can’t possibly forgive anyone who did you wrong because that would expose the wounds in your life, and open wounds are more painful than numb/bandaged ones. So, instead you let the dark dusty walls thicken and they begin to close in on your heart.

Pain has led to you hide yourself for so long. As you hide, shame starts to speak to you. Shame will tell you that at this point you are foolish to think that your feelings matter or that you could ever be healed from something like this. Shame will tell you that being fragile equates weakness; pain makes you fragile, therefore pain makes you weak. You now believe that you are under complete control of the pain of your circumstances. And in an effort to not be bound to this pain, you tell yourself it’s best to not trust anyone and it would be better to just take care of yourself.
Pain can truly do a number on people… but did anyone tell you that there is a better option? A way to live beyond your circumstance, to live beyond the sting of your past, to live beyond the pain that has gripped you for years?
 
Pain is here, it is all around this earth because we live in a fallen world. Pain has been here since the day that Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. BUT, I’ll let you in on a secret… pain never got to say “It is finished.” Jesus did.

Pain is powerless in our lives because when we look to Jesus we see we have an invincible army fighting on our behalf. Sure, you may feel a sting of pain here and there, but it will not be forever. Jesus knows how to redeem every area of your life that pain grazes up against. When you turn your heart towards Jesus, forgiveness, vulnerability, joy, peace and so much more will begin to take the reigns and fight for your life of victory.

Forgiveness knows how to clear the dust that has piled up around your heart. Each day that goes by, forgiveness will knock down a wall that has hid your heart. It may take a little while to knock them all down, and some will expose bigger wounds than others, but there will be a day that comes when there are no more walls. Then you will be left with a soft and pure heart that can exude confidence and hope in every circumstance.

As you walk in forgiveness, vulnerability will be a natural response. The lower and thinner the walls around your heart get, the easier it will be to live in full surrender to Jesus. As you embrace a life of vulnerability you will see that where you are is safe, and that people want to know what is happening in you and will fight to protect your heart. And when pain comes back around, you won’t have to retreat to solitude, instead you will have people who understand the depths of where it stings and they will be able to speak life and comfort you in those specific places.  
When you lock eyes with Jesus, no matter what pain you come across, you will still experience great joy and deep peace. Joy shows you the good and the fun in the journey, no matter how far. And peace will remind you that even when you don’t see the end of the storm yet, you still get to live in abundant life in the midst of it. Both joy and peace will allow you to celebrate every step of the journey and will teach you to jump up and down with excitement for how far you have come, no matter how far you may have left to go. And this is just the beginning. When you open yourself up to living with Jesus, rather than falling into the crippling lies of pain, you also get to live with hope, love, kindness, protection, humility, and so much more.

Remember, this life is hard, there is always going to be a process to walk through, and at times it will be a painful process. But, you are covered in the blood of Jesus so you get to run side by side with His victorious army and discover the fruitfulness of this life. Pain, fear, and shame will dissolve as you keep saying yes to Jesus and how He is moving in your life. They don’t get to claim you any longer. You are free to dance in the glorious riches that were always meant to be your inheritance. God wants to bind up your broken heart, to release you from the grip of your pain. In Isaiah, it is written “He has sent me to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair.” This is true for each of us today, we have access to the beauty, the joy, and the praise because we have access to Jesus.

Author | Tori Kramer