"I've been thinking lately about the distinction between pain
and suffering.
Pain is a constant part of my daily existence. I’m so accustomed to the pain now that I don’t consider it suffering as much as I used to. But there are physical moments
when the pain causes real suffering. The moments when it escalates and is
unrelenting to the point of making me sick. I physically suffer.
Emotionally, it’s called a pit of despair for a reason. A hole can be
dug inside us so deep that it seems everything good has been excavated from our
lives. A pit is dug. And despair is
the first visitor that wants to knock at your door.
It’s in
those moments when I pray for God to get me out of His way. It’s those moments when I stop praying for what I want
and start praying for Him to change my heart for what He wants. It requires me to trust Him completely. That
doesn’t change my physical pain. It doesn’t change the loss. But it does change the
suffering.
It allows me to not answer the
door to despair and instead invite His presence into the pit. The pit that
looks jagged and deep, which turns out to be a God-shaped hole in the center of
our beings. A hole that is dug by circumstances and choices, and is filled with
His grace.
I am in pain. He has made sure
I don’t have to suffer." ~Sara Frankl
No matter what type of pain we go through...physical, emotional or spiritual, the pain we experience teaches us the value of what we have lost and sometimes what we have taken for granted.
I remember the day Sara asked me to come be with her. That day when the realization set in that her life was coming to an end here on earth. The emotional pain was overwhelming. That pit of despair started digging it's hole. It was knocking on my door.
God's Grace is "the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves". And the fact is, we cannot do anything for ourselves. Jesus says, "...without me you can do nothing." ~John 15:5
It was in that moment that I needed God's grace. "By Grace Alone." Those words kept going through my head. I prayed...asking for His help. His Grace. Without His grace, I was lost.
Graced by God's presence we learn that while we are less than perfect, who we are, by God's grace, can be enough. By God's grace, each day can be lived with hope and purpose...and with His grace, we can Choose joy.
You can learn more about Choosing Joy and God's grace in the book, Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts.