Pain

There are so many contrasting experiences in our day to day life. We can feel extreme joy one moment and then experience extreme sadness the next. Today was a day like that for me. Church was awesome. Pastor's message really hit home and I found myself listening with complete attention, thinking how blessed I was to be sitting there next to my best friend and her daughter-visiting from Phoenix. Not too long after that I experienced a heart wrenching sadness when watching the movie, "Shadowlands," a story about C.S. Lewis and his best friend and wife, Joy. I cried as I was watching that movie, thinking about how we all suffer so greatly in our life. I cried as I thought about my life and the devasting mistakes I have made and their consequences. I cried as I related this to a friend and her struggle with a rebellious daughter. Sometimes the suffering just seems overwhelming! Then I listened to what C.S. Lewis learned in his trial of losing the most precious person on earth to him, He said this, "suffering makes life real." "Pain now is part of our happiness-that is the deal." I say, numbing your pain is missing the Lord. It is missing His amazing power that is there to comfort us in the midst of our darkness. There is nothing in the world that can compare to feeling fully alive, knowing God is in the midst of it all-trial and triumph! Think about this.