To Make Pain Count

Seeing Destiny in the Midst of Suffering

There are many times when I have been appalled and shocked by the atrocities of what humans do to one another. Greed and self-centredness take on vile shapes.

However, it is not just evil that has taken me by surprise over the years. What surprises me perhaps even more is the lengths that people will go to in order to help someone else. What they cannot do for their own sake, they find strength to do for others.

For the sake of compassion, frail and faulted men and women will push on and push through.

Today, if you are reading this and your life is one laced with sexual pain and clouds of heaviness and shame, I want you to know that your story can and will make a difference. As humans, we often look to one another to find out what is possible. 

Young men and women everywhere are scanning the horizon, wondering, “Will I always feel this way? Is the dysfunction I see in my family destined to be my future too? Is depression the road I must walk forever? Can I ever be free from the painful memories of assault?”

When one person breaks through and finds healing, it releases a contagion of hope.

Breakthrough Begins

For centuries it was deemed strictly impossible for any human to be able to run a mile in under 4 minutes. Our bodies were simply not designed for it, the experts announced. Multitudes of athletes attempted, but always failed. Their experience seemed to prove the theory true.

But then.

May 6, 1954. 

Roger Bannister.  He was a full-time student with little time for professional coaches. On a wet, cold day Roger defied the odds and ran that mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds in Oxford, England. Cheers erupted.

And old mindsets were broken. Less than two months later, a runner from Australia ran the mile in 3 minutes and 58 seconds. One year later, in a single race, three of the runners all completed the mile in under 4 minutes.

Was there a sudden surge in physical stamina, or was this evidence of the power of hope? Today, more than a thousand runners have done what once seemed impossible.

The Impossible Becoming Possible

This morning I read in the Bible, in the records of Matthew, about how Jesus spent so much of His time bringing healing to people. It said that the mute began to speak, that the maimed were made whole, that the lame could walk, and the blind could see. And all of these miracles caused the crowds to marvel.

Maybe you feel like you have lost your voice because of all that has happened to you. You may think that your opinions, boundaries, or needs don’t matter. Because of abuse or neglect, you may suspect that your words will just be discounted and dismissed. God wants to give you your voice back.

Maybe you feel like a part of you is missing, or that something is profoundly wrong with you because of the choices you’ve made in regards to your sexuality. Your soul may feel bruised and tender. Rightfully so. Things were said to you that crushed your spirit. God wants to bring you back to life.

You may not have known any better at the time, but now you realize that you feel immobilized because of your past relationship choices, or because of the atmosphere in your family’s home growing up. You try to move on, try to not fall into the same kind of patterns, drawn to the same kind of partner, but you just seem to be stuck. God wants you to be free to move on.

Perhaps you feel like your vision is cloudy, because you can’t see what is true anymore. About yourself, about your friends and family, or about God and what He thinks about you. One day you may seem to have clear direction, but the next you feel confused and uncertain. God wants to open your eyes so that you can see clearly, avoiding future trouble, and boldly heading into a future of fulfillment.

It may seem impossible now, but remember that once you have broken through, you will be able to spread the hope to others. The lies that you unearth from your own mind and heart, you will be able to recognize and illuminate for others. And you will be able to extend comfort to those who desperately need a place to be received and understood.

For your child, for your sister, for your dad, for your co-worker, for your classmate, for your friend, for a stranger.

God knows how to transform even the cruelest of scenarios into a place of redemption and restored life. Not just for you, but for multitudes more. And suddenly, all that pain counts for something.

Love and compassion can give us far more strength than fear can.

So, in the midst of waves of confusion or discouragement, don’t give up. For your own sake, but also for the sake of another.