This life is full of pain and sorrow, but, in the Lord, you can also have joy in it.  It is possible to find peace and happiness even while going through pain.

The last two years of my life have been some of the most hurt I have ever dealt with, and yet I found God in it.  I still have days when I don’t want to get out of bed — my heart full of pain.  But my heart no longer feels heavy; I have less days of waking up feeling the weight of bricks on my chest.  I am finding my happiness and joy in Him.

God can use your pain as a blessing.  It may not seem like it right now, but He can.  The question is, are yo going to listen to what He is telling you, or are you going to keep asking, “God, why me?”  If all you ask is “Why?” you won’t get anywhere.  If you ask, “What is your purpose for me in this?” you’ll start seeing things differently.  God wants us to rely on Him, but when we’re too stubborn to, rest assured He will get our attention.

We all long for healing, peace, love, and a place to belong.  Yet, we turn to all of the wrong places to find those things because we’re convinced that we can find them on our own apart from God.  I’ve had so many days when I’m praying to Him for help, and two hours later I’m saying, “I’m good; I can do it on my own.”  Then, I go looking elsewhere and am left feeling empty.  We want healing, peace, love, and belonging which we fill find in Him.  But we have to be willing to say no to our own desires and to say yes to His.

See, that’s when we quit seeking His ways in life and start our own ways again.  We’ll sit in our room crying out to Him, wondering why we’re in pain, but then get irritated when He reminds us that we can’t have our way.  So then what do we always do?  We tell Him that He’s wrong and we can figure it out on our own, because we don’t like taking no for an answer.

Does that ever leave you feeling better, though?  I don’t know about you, but it always leaves me feeling more empty than when I first approached Him.

The other day I was outside playing catch with my dog, and the ball fell behind some bushes.  My dog, not seeing where it went, kept running around looking for it.  He would look at me as if asking for help, and I would point to where I knew the ball was.  Then, he would go running in the opposite direction of where I pointed.  That made me think…how often do we do that to God.  We ask Him for help; however, when He points in a direction we don’t like, we walk the other way.  We walk back to those areas that leave us feeling empty, telling ourselves this time it will be different; this time I’ll find fulfillment.

It’s a hard road to walk, saying no to our desires; it’s more like climbing up a steep mountainside.  But the beauty of it is you’re not doing it alone, and He’ll get you to the top.  Picture this for a moment, you are a rock climber, and God is your belayer.  For anyone who doesn’t know what a belayer is, that is the person responsible for catching you if you fall.  If you’re rock climbing and God was your belayer, you would be so confident because you know He is going to keep you safe.  Yet, in our our lives we constantly expect that God is just going to let us fall.

Why is that?

If you know that He would get you to the top of that mountain, don’t you think he will get you through whatever valley you’re in?

One of the biggest lessons God has taught me is that I can’t do life on my own.  I need Him in very moment, of every hour, of every day.  I even need His help to follow Him; I can’t even do that on my own.

Now, I’m not saying I’m perfect.  I have days, and weeks, where I don’t even want to open my Bible because I am angry with Him.  Still…our Lord is merciful and is using those days to teach me how to rely on Him.

To anyone who thinks that you don’t need God to get through life, you’re lying to yourself.  It doesn’t matter if you are in Church praising Him every Sunday, or if you’re going to Bible studies throughout the week; it doesn’t even matter how much you tithe to your Church.  If you are not living in Christ and for Christ, none of that matters.  None of it matters without God.

For anyone struggling, I just pray that you will hear His voice, and let Him work through you to turn your sorrow into joy and your suffering into a blessing.  He can, and He will.

Trust Him and let Him.