Pain in the Recovery

My beautiful older sister gave birth two weeks ago to a beautiful little her. She strongly and courageously endured nine difficult months of sacrificing her own body and now her little blessing is here. And yet: there is still pain in her recovery.

To me, this paints a beautiful and clear picture of what we experience in life when we go through difficult moments, situations, and experiences. We walked through those with a lot of pain, and I find myself thinking: it is necessary to endure emotional pain in order to recover from them.

Childhood traumas, sicknesses, unfair and seemingly unnecessary experiences we would all rather run away from unmarked, but truth is they won't heal if we don't address them the right way.

The good news is that Jesus told us about how, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus came to heal our sin problem, but also he came to heal our inner person. It's hard to look at the mirror, so to speak, and see all of the wounds and scars that are a part of our life story. Things we hide from the world, even those closest to us.

We try not to look at them, or notice them even when they pop up in the farthest places of our minds. But God waits. He waits patiently, almost as though saying, "Are you ready to bring that to me now?" After all, Jesus described himself as the needed doctor to the sick.

He also taught, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." In order to be comforted, we must mourn. And who does the comforting according to Jesus? "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

Imagine showing up to a doctor's appointment, sitting in front of the doctor in a lot of pain, and not letting the doctor treat it. That's what we do with God every day we delay our own healing. We don't embrace suffering. Why? We have enough pain as it is, why endure more pain during the process of correcting our emotional wounds, that sometimes even manifest themselves physically?

But when we decide to face the pain in recovery, we accept that the pain is worth it in the end. A little bit of painful fixing will yield a healed and wholesome us. Do you trust Jesus to fulfill his promises to you? He is the doctor, and the Father has provided the Comforter to be with us in that process.

I choose to feel a bit more pain with the end goal of experiencing God's healing. I'll trust His wise guidance along the way and I hope you will too.