The Purpose of Pain

Lately life has made me realize there is a very good reason for our pain. I have struggled tremendously in the past 8 weeks. Feelings have been brought up in me that I didn’t even realize were there. I have been through a very painful last couple of months. I’ve had many painful things happen in a short period of time. I am not completely through it yet, but I am getting there. There are some really important things I’ve been learning.

Top 5 Reasons for painful experiences:

1. Pain can lead us to authenticity and vulnerability with others, and then true connection can take place. True connection with God and others is the giving and receiving of love. It works two ways. A hug makes both people feel loved. When we reach out to others and let them love us, we reciprocate with them, and then both people feel loved. This is the way God designed love to work. I always thought I had to be completely healed in order to minister to someone, but I’ve realized I can minister to someone even as I reach out to them out of my own need. As I seek connection, I connect with another, helping them as well as me. I have been very honest with others about my struggles, letting them see my vulnerability and that has resulted in closer friendships and relationships with the individuals in my life. I have also learned that sometimes it’s okay to not have anything to give, but then I can depend on certain individuals in the body of Christ for love and prayer. There is a time and a season for everything.  There is a time to give and a time to receive.


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Everything Has Its Time
3 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
    And a time to die;
A time to plant,
    And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
    And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
    And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
    And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
    And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
    And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
    And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
    And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
    And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
    And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
    And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
    And a time to hate;
A time of war,
    And a time of peace.


We are allowed to just receive sometimes, but we should eventually get to the place where we can give once again. God works through the body of Christ. Sometimes we can be mad at God or feel betrayed and He loves us through others in the body of Christ.

2. God allows pain to draw us closer to Himself. God takes a chance in letting us experience pain because He knows either it will draw us closer to Himself or drive us further away. He deems the chance worth it. Will we let our pain drive us away from God or towards Him? God made Himself vulnerable to us. Jesus was vulnerable as He hung naked on a cross, as God, dying for us. You can’t get more vulnerable than that! He is crying out for relationship with us. He deems us valuable enough to give His precious priceless blood for us, so we can be redeemed and be in relationship with Him.

3. We can help others, as we ourselves are helped, just by being ourselves. We don’t have to be anyone other than who God created us to be. He made us who we are for a purpose, and all we have to do is fulfill that purpose by being ourselves, filled with the Holy Spirit.

4. God will leave some of our physical needs unfilled so we will reach out to Him and others. We would not reach out any other way, because one of the results of the fall of man is self-sufficiency. We don’t want to reach out until we have to. God may not fill our natural needs always, but supernaturally fill the need and make it so that we no longer feel we need it. God does miracles every day. I am convinced that many more miracles happen every day than we are ever aware of. I believe in ministry we should talk more about how God supernaturally fills our needs. God is still in the miracle business.

5. Pain allows us to experience personal growth that would happen in no other way. God specializes in taking what the enemy means for evil and using it for our good and the good of others. He takes evil and supernaturally changes it to be something very, very good. He can redeem anyone and anything. With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Our response to evil is our choice. Will we let our experiences of pain make us bitter or better? Will we keep fighting evil or give up and die? We cannot give up. We’ve got to be so founded on Christ the solid rock, that no amount of destruction in our lives could ever destroy our foundation. Our relationship with God is not always easy. We may feel betrayed by Him at times and not understand why He allows certain things, but we must not let this make us turn our back on Him. We must in our own time come back to ground zero. We must re-examine our relationship with God, start over again, and learn to trust Him again. We must know God from a perspective of love to ever be able to understand Him. If we do not intrinsically know that God is love it is impossible to bear Him and love Him.