I don’t like pain and I don’t care to suffer. But that’s sometimes what I’m called to do. Like it or not. Ready or not. Such is life in a fallen world.
Friend, if you’ve lived any time at all there’s no doubt you’ve also experienced your share of difficulties. Like it or not. Ready or not. Welcome to life in a fallen world.
But just because life is hard doesn’t mean we allow it to impose hardness on our hearts. As much as we dislike difficulty, we can – and should – permit the rough patches to leave their mark on our faith.
These hard places create lessons for us to ponder and blessings for us to reflect upon. They make us better aware of His gentle mercies enveloping our pain. They remind us that our experiences – as hard as they’ve been, as hard as they continue to be – are worth sharing with others.
It’s in those places of vulnerability that our stories take flight.
Stories that recount God’s faithfulness and breathe life into hope, enabling it to flourish. Stories where value pulsates from pain and beauty is birthed from ashes. Stories where wounded hearts fuse together.
Opening our eyes to the enormity of heartache swirling about us.
Connecting us with those entangled in their own weighty circumstances.
Leading us into unfamiliar territory filled with lovely people we may have otherwise never met.
This is the power of story.
May we bravely examine the stories written on our hearts. May we ask God to pinpoint the blessings woven within each one. May we, at God’s prompting, share our stories with others who need encouragement; who need to know they are not alone in their suffering. May we be a comfort to them as God continually comforts us.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (HCSB)
Beautiful post, Sheila. My husband always reminds me God is not done with our stories yet. We all have so much life to live, and each experience can draw us closer to Him. I love your reminder that when we share our stories with others it builds hope, and connects us to others. Thank you! ?
Thank you, Shirley? And what a great blessing it is to make those connections.