Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 09/23/2010)

From Pain To Purpose…

Isaiah 61:1-4 (Amplified Bible)

¹THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, ²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, ³To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion--to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit--that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. ⁴And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

There is not one of us that do not go through a season of pain. Pain is an unmistakable event that comes into our lives, sometimes with a forewarning but many times without. It can be an event or a season that takes our breath away and makes us forget the importance of being able to take another breath. It can be anything that causes us pain, from a death to a decision we must make. From love misused and abused to disappointments felt at the hands of those who claim to love us. It can be the loss of a job or the loss of a friend. No matter what it is pain can become a catalysis that begins our descent to depression, despair and decline, but only if we let it. As with anything we have a choice.

My mom is the type of person that when life gives her lemons, she usually gets out her picture and the canister of sugar and makes lemonade. She refuses to see the rain, she can only remember that in spite of what she sees, and the rain that is falling (no matter how hard), that the sun is still shining beyond the cloud cover. One of her favorite things to say is God is able. I use to laugh, because it seemed as if it rolled off of her tongue so easy, even when I was very much aware that life was less than kind and that she had every right to be throwing herself out a window if she chose. She had pressure, pain, abuse, misuse and misunderstanding that was all around her, but I watched her rise every morning and bow before her God and to cry loud to Him that was able to keep her from falling. But it wasn’t for her she cried, it wasn’t about her issues she petitioned the Master it was for the rebuilding and upkeep of others, she would go as far as to intercede and stand in the gap for those who used, abused and misused her. When she had little to nothing, she shared of her last, she took people under her care to build them up, protect them and give them purpose, even when I saw that all the same needed to be done for her, and she did it for others. You see her pain never became a stumbling block, a means for pity or despair, but it became a means of purpose and drive.

Yes, pain is going to come, there is NO AVOIDING IT! But the question is what will we allow it to do to us, or will we allow God to work it through us? Will we allow God to make our test a testimony, one that brings Him glory and honor? We will allow Him to cultivate strength in us and to replace what by the natural eye and through natural standards should be to our demise? Will God be able to get the glory out of us even in the midst of our pain, or will we just throw in the towel, crumble and die? I remember a doctor once told me pain is good. I looked at him as if he had lost his mind, but then he went on to say it identifies that there is something going on, that either needs to be healed or is in the healing process, it is an indicator. This time of discomfort does not have to be just that, but it can become our indicators, it can be a time of healing, new birth, new strength, new praise, new worship, new covenant, it can be our inspiration and it can increase our dedication if only we can gain an appreciation for its design to get us to a place of purpose! Don’t despise the pain in the process for it will bring us to each to a place of PURPOSE!