Pain has a purpose.....

Ok.. so from a medical standpoint pain is not a disease, there is no one course of treatment or "cure". We have to find the cause of the pain and treat that. Pain is a symptom, a reaction. But pain always has a purpose. It is your bodies way of saying hey, be careful, take it easy or stop what you are doing. It alerts you that something is wrong and hopefully motivates you to seek some kind of help.

In this current season there are many small painful moments when I am stretched beyond my comfort zone, feel lonely and far away from friends, or whatever other emotional moment I am happening to have. Not being present for Harmony for her second birth and missing several friends weddings, I am saddened and there is a tinge of pain realizing what I have missed. But I am not taking about a metaphorical kink in my neck or a paper cut... I mean more of the real gut busting, cry until you can't breathe, dreams shattered kind of pain. 

I am inspired to write this blog by my dear friend Harmony who just brought into the world another beautiful treasure, a new life. Now that process is infamous for being one of the worst pains anyone can experience. The transition is altering and the physical sacrifice is great, but that pain in particular  has a purpose. Birth in particular can be a powerful process and a very visual and resonating portrayal of giving of ones self for another.  It can be one horrible day of labor and exhaustion and pain that lingers... but the beauty of the moment when you get to see the results of that sacrifice and hold in your hands the gift that the painful process brought about, the pain is given purpose. Beautifully, for most women the reality of the depth of pain fades into the background and love and joy floods the present and their sacrifice has merit and value. Pain has purpose.

Now treating the heart and mind can be much harder than treating the body.  Now as a nurse I have ways to try and make the pain seemingly disappear by telling the brain that the pain doesn't exist or distracting the individual enough that the pain isn't the center focus or is dulled. We have pain killers and soothers, can swaddle a baby or offer a warm blanket. Now we all try and do this in our lives... some use substances to numb pain or reality, others run, some ignore it and eventually walk with a limp, you get the idea. Like I said before, pain is just the symptom...

So here it is... pain has purpose. Both physically and emotionally. They are both loud blaring alerts that something, somewhere is wrong and needs attention. But what I believe we lack is the recognition of the beauty of what painful seasons bring about in our lives. We are all happy to see change and improvement in ourselves and often want to hide our scars. But I know for myself that some of my hardest seasons have brought about some of the most amazing facets of who I am. It is the seasons where I learned to embrace my weaknesses, allow myself to be ok not being perfect, to embrace the pain of transition and failures and all that comes with life and let the pain tell me something needs attention that I find the greatest amount of growth. To find the root, to treat the cause, not hide the symptom. In Christianity it is not often popular to be anything but a smiling, happy, "nothing's wrong", I'm perfect kinda of person. It should be ok to be yourself 100% of the time and not to be afraid of being a bit human, fallible. Here is my point (a bit late maybe)... but this is life, its messy and imperfect and with all the love and laughter is an equal dose of reality, pain and self sacrifice. If you want one you are going to have the other. Not all painful things have the luxury of having such a tangible gift at the end of it, like labor does. But your all smart enough to seek and find the treasure in ourselves, in our seasons if you are brave enough to do so.

So here it is... if you are fighting pain of any various level... (I mean mainly emotionally), embrace the process, find the root cause, and realize that these moments, that pain, once healed and you can look back at it a whole person again. Don't forget to see the beauty of these moments and remember who you were and what you have gained from it. Find the beauty and purpose in your own pain. If you can't and things were too terrible to try and find any light or beauty in... ask God where He was in those moments, remind yourself that He never left you and always loves you.

For me... pain often tells me a couple things...
#1. I am probably not trusting the Lord... or at least leaning on him the way I should.
#2. My expectations for my life might not have been centered on reality or biblical foundation.
#3 I have forgotten that I gave God the reins in my life a long time ago and I have asked Him to make decisions and guide me with His and my relationship as the thing that matters most.
#4. There is something inside me that I need to see in a different light, or a lie I am believing, etc.
#5. Life comes with it loss and heartache and my perspective is if I am not  thankful for the time I had or the love I was given or whatever it might be, I loose the purpose in the pain and it all seems pointless. In that case I have missed the mark completely.

It is in some of my greatest and most EPIC failures that I have found the glimmering beauty of my life. Had I not gotten sick in Africa and had to leave behind a dream of a year spent overseas in a land I had longed to be apart of since I was a child... I mourned that loss and felt like a failure. But had I not gotten sick, I never would be sitting on a couch in Idaho writing this into the void of the internet. My life would be drastically different and probably still pretty good but that shattering of a dream caused me to hold tight to God, build a stronger foundation, and put my value and trust in Him and not in my own perceptions. My relationship with my faith and God grew substantially and I will never forget it. That pain gave my life great purpose.

You will never know the purpose of the pain in the moment, you have to walk out the other side, completing the process of pain to healing to fully respect and honor what that process did for you. Don't let the disappointments, failures, or whatever else you may have experienced that caused pain be pointless, give them value by focusing on what you have gained while still being honest with what you have lost. Don't hide the symptom, find the Cure and honor the process.