Pain!

I don’t like pain. I don’t like emotional pain or physical pain or pain of any kind, but it is impossible to get through life without experiencing it. Pain with all it horrors is part of telestial life. People we love die and we hurt because they are gone. It’s a penetrating hurt that stings so deep into the bones we think our bones will crack. Betrayal thrusts a knife in the pit of our stomach when people we trusted disappoint us. Disillusionment squeezes the very breath out of our souls when we lose a job or don’t get the position we have been working so hard to achieve. I don’t know why, but pain is a necessary part of mortality.

However, as much as we don’t like pain, we mortals are very good at making pain. Necessary pain happens, but when we feel victimized or hold onto or fight against necessary pain, we create unnecessary pain. Unnecessary pain is just that—unnecessary. It doesn’t have to happen, but we create it. When we think that what happened shouldn’t have happened. We create more pain. When we continually recall and relive the painful experience we create more pain. When we lash out at others blaming them for what has happened we create more pain. When we blame God we create more pain. Unnecessary pain comes whenever we think things shouldn’t be the way they are.

The Truth is that what happened has happened and we can’t change it. Our only hope for peace is to turn to Jesus Christ. He will help us endure the necessary pain of life, and if we trust in Him we avoid the unnecessary pain of life. Realizing this and letting go of all the negative thoughts and emotions that cause unnecessary pain makes life so much easier to navigate. Your heart is open to receive love from others. Your mind is free to wander in creative, rejuvenating paths. Your soul is lighter so it floats closer to heaven.

The adversary will tell you it’s impossible to let go of unnecessary pain. But that is a lie. It is possible and it is wonderful. It is a simple decision. Let go!