But, pain hurts!
Love the pain? Did I really title this “love the pain”? Yes! Yes, I did!!! I have learned am learning to love the pain in my life. I know what you all are thinking….really???? Why would anyone want to love pain? My “girl crush” posted this image a few days ago on her Instagram and it summed up a lot of my thoughts almost perfectly!
It’s taken me a while to get to where I am (and I still struggle in the moment). I didn’t understand. I couldn’t see why. Why me? Why now? How is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? Am I not good enough? Am I not worth it? All questions I’ve asked myself numerous times in my life.
So, why?
Everyone’s “why” is different. Most of the time, pain has something to teach us. The pain hurts, but we can’t just stop the pain and expect it to be gone forever. Of course, I’m talking emotional pain, but let’s think about this metaphorically……
You are a runner (just pretend). You have a pretty good fall and twist your ankle badly. It’s not broken….at least you don’t think so….. You ice it and elevate it and take it easy for a few days. You feel good to go in a few days and take off on a run. It’s a little tender, but ehhh….you’re tough…push through. You ice and elevate again, but continue to run consistently. After a few more weeks/months you decide that maybe you should get it checked out. This run/ice/elevate routine is starting to get old. Doctor says, “let’s X-ray…just to be sure”. Guess what? The X-ray shows a problem…..a healed hairline fracture. The bone has healed, but not properly….now what??
Okay, you get the point. If we just “suck it up” and push through the pain, we either never heal OR we heal in a way that has to be fixed and healed the right way later. Either way, we learn something. Even physical pain teaches us some sort of lesson……Those shoes were super cute, but that blister from wearing 5″ heals for 8 hours shooting a wedding was probably not the smartest move! =)
Love it….
No one likes to go through pain. I certainly don’t like when I’m in pain physical or emotional. But I’m learning. There are days when I slip back to the questioning, but I don’t hang out there. I work on the healing. Full healing so that I can come out better on the other side. So what has pain taught me?
*God is there for me ALWAYS
*Patience
*Love
*I have value
*I’m worth more
*Trust and Forgivness
*Rejection is okay
*lots more…..
Maybe “love” the pain is a bit extreme. I don’t really love the pain. I embrace the pain. I appreciate the pain. I love the things I’ve learned. I am learning to love the me that has come through the pain. God does some pretty awesome work.
Trust the process…..
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” ~Ecclesiastes 3:11
Love what the total photo is really saying! You rock, baby girl!