The Purpose of Pain

Perhaps there is nothing we so greatly avoid, but so desperately need as the lessons that pain has to teach us. 

The last year of my life has been marked by pain. 

The pain of childbirth. 

The pain of growth. 

The pain of obedience. 

The pain of death. 

The pain of exhaustion. 

The pain of insecurity. 

The pain of transition. 

The pain of relocation. 

The pain of the unknown.

Now, as I sit on the other side, seeing the wounds of this season healing to become a story I can share, I realize even pain can carve a path into the presence of God. 

It’s not the path of least resistance, rather it’s obstructed by opposition, upward climbs of defiance, false summits of humanistic hope, and downward slides of despair that often leave us empty, unsettled, and in an irrecoverable state if yet for a sacred place reserved for us at the feet of Jesus. 

Pain can become one of our greatest escorts into the presence of God. God doesn’t cause it, but it’s undeniably one of His greatest resources to draw the weary, broken soul into a place of divine communion, rest, and heavenly formation. 

Only God can take pain and give it a purpose. 

Out of the pain of labor came a child.

Out of the pain of growth came greater capacity for my calling.

Out of the pain of obedience came increased faith for the future .

Out of the pain of death came weighty understanding of eternity.

Out of the pain of exhaustion came true compassion for others. 

Out of the pain of insecurity came the remembrance of personal identity. 

Out of the pain transition came honor for faithfulness in a long direction.

Out of the pain of relocation came the reward of relationships.

Out of the pain of the unknown came a fresh hunger to lean into the all knowing. 

All of these things I have desired, but this is not the journey I would have chosen to receive them. I wouldn’t willingly embrace being a pupil of pain, but I am a follower of the Potter. 

And, I know only the Potter can take pain, 

building the broken into something beautiful—

shaping the unusable into something useful—

molding the messy into something miraculous. 

Pain, when it's placed in the hands of the Potter, forms a vessel fit for His purpose. 

To those coming out of pain, to those living in it right now, and to those who are sure to experience it in a future season, your pain has a purpose. 

Let pain push you deeper in your pursuit.

Let pain teach you how to trod out a familiar path into His presence. 

Let pain have a purpose beyond expectation through the hands of the Potter.