Category Archives: love

Blogroll, choices, complaining, Control, emotions, Enlightenment, faith, God, Growing, Healing, Lessons, life, love, personal growth

The Purpose Of Pain!

In my life, I have had my fair share of pain. Live long enough and you will have more than your fair share as well. Pain is just a part of life and it comes and goes as it pleases, sometimes with a very direct purpose and sometimes, who knows?

Pain, heartache, frustration, disappointment, whatever you would like to call it, comes in all shapes and sizes and from all directions. As I age in this life, one of the things that I think this life is teaching me is that pain always has a purpose.

Sometimes it’s purpose is to act as a warning light that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Other times, pain is a consequence of a bad or wrong choice or choices we have made. There are times when we are not sure what or why the pain is there, causing us to ask the question: “Why Me?”

When we read the Scriptures, it becomes clear that pain has a purpose and for whatever reason that it has come into our lives, there is great reward and blessing as we learn to handle it in the right way.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. -Romans 5:3-5

Below are three things I am learning about the purpose of pain and the benefits of dealing with it…

Pain Always Has A Purpose!

1.) Don’t waste your pain, if you have to endure it, then grow from it! The Scriptures teach that “tribulation worketh patience”. The way we grow from pain is to not get frustrated by it, distracted because of it, but instead focused in spite of it or maybe because of it. Pain has a way of getting our attention and the key is making sure that our attention is focused in the right direction. Next time you find yourself dealing with pain – ask yourself what is this pain trying to teach me?

2.) Painful things teach us things we didn’t know we needed to know! The Scriptures teach that as “tribulation worketh patience, the patience is giving us experience…” In other words we are learning something, if we are paying attention. It would be a terrible waste to have to endure pain and miss the lesson that it has come to teach us. Looking back on my life, pain has taught me many things: It has taught me that what does not kill you, makes you stronger. It has taught me that sometimes I am wrong, make bad choices and choices have consequences. It has taught me that the world can be cruel, but God is always good. It has taught me that no matter what that God will use even the bad for my good as I love and trust Him…

3.) The key to getting through it, is learning from it and moving on! Most people hate their pain and want to get rid of it, but then are often unwilling to let it go. The Scriptures teach that the “tribulation worketh patience and the patience gives us experience and the experience grows into hope…” Looking back on my life and seeing where I am today, one thing is abundantly clear: The pain, tribulation, frustration, disappointments and frustrations of life have all worked together to bring me to an amazing place of blessing.

Pain is a part of life, learn from it and GROW on!

bible, Blogroll, choices, Control, enemies, Expectation, faith, God, Growing, Healing, journey, Lessons, life, love, mental challenge, mindfulness, personal growth, positive, responsibility, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, Values

Feed Your Faith And Starve Your Fears!

Once we really begin to think about our life and the way we are living, it should become pretty obvious that faith, not fear should be calling the shots. While it is obvious that this is the way we should be living, it is not usually the way we are doing it. We know better, but we still allow anxiousness, doubts and fears to have more power in the say of our life and living than we should.

Feed Your Faith!

It is important to feed our faith through daily Bible reading, prayer and fellowship with fellow Believers, but that is not enough. We need to also at the very same time that we are feeding our faith, make sure that we are starving our doubts, fears, insecurities, worries and anxious thoughts.

28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? -Luke 12:28

Look at it this way: Part of feeding your faith is starving your doubts, fears and insecurities! The two go hand in hand and work together to help you experience victory in taking back control of your life, so that you can experience the blessings you were created for.

We’ve already talked about some of the spiritual disciplines we can practice to feed our faith. Another thing we can do to feed our faith and starve our doubts and fears is look back on our life at what we have already survived. That’s right remind your body, mind and spirit of what God has done and if God has done it, then we can trust that God will do it again and again and again as many times as it needs doing…

God created you to do more than survive – God created you to thrive! Do not allow yourself to be satisfied with anything less than God’s absolute best for you and yours. God loves you and has an amazing plan of blessing and growth for your life. Believe it, claim it, experience it and give God the glory!

Blogroll, choices, emotions, enemies, Enlightenment, faith, God, grace, Gratitude, Growing, Healing, influence, Jesus, journey, Lessons, life, love, mercy, Message, mindfulness, peace, Personal, personal growth, planning, purpose, responsibility, scripture, self help, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment

The Real Enemy!

There all kinds of different things that come into our lives to do battle against us and try to rob us of all the good things we were created to benefit from and experience the blessings of. And out of all of those things, I believe one of the most destructive is worry. I think worry is is such a destructive enemy, because we underestimate it’s ability and power to do damage and often when we realize the damage it’s done, it’s too late to do much about it.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” -John 10:10

Worry Is The Real Enemy!

Worry is one of our greatest enemies, but it does not get to call the shots in our life, unless we empower it to do so. To defeat worry, we have to decide to not allow it any power in our lives. To overcome worry, we have to choose to trust something or someone else above worry. I would suggest that the One to trust is the One, Who created us, loves us and has a plan to bless us with an abundant life.

Worry Is Sneaky!

Worry sneaks into our life and begins to steal, kill and destroy! It steals our happiness, kills our joy and destroys our life. Often it is in, doing damage and wreaking havoc, before we know what has hit us. It often starts out as a legitimate concern, but then turns into a hideous and ugly monster that wants more and more real-estate in our life and living, Before you know it concern has turned into worry and worry is calling the shots.

Worry Is Only Interested In Itself!

If we are not careful, worry will actually take our life away from us! For worry to survive, it has to feed and it get’s it’s nourishment from the negatives in our life. The great tragedy is that often worry starts out as a very small thing, but before we know it, worry has morphed into something that takes control of our thoughts, influences our decisions in negative ways and causes us to actually lose seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months = life.

The Dangerous Game Of Worry!

Worry starts out making you think that it’s looking out for you, but then some where along the way, it slips into self preservation mode and our process become more about the survival of worry and less about looking our for ourselves. The result is that “our best life” had now drifted even farther away from us. We think that worry is harmless, but we know better! In a lot of ways, worry is like a drug that we get hooked on. Before you know it, you don’t think you can do life without it, but that is one of the greatest lies of the enemy, because the truth is: Most of the time worry is nothing, but a BIG DISTRACTION.

The time we waste worrying is time we lose trusting. Every minute spent in worry is a minute taken away from growing our faith and living a life that gives God glory. God has blessed us with this amazing gift called life. God has given us everything we need to enjoy His blessings that will flow to and through us, but worry causes us to miss out on this grand plan of God.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in it. If you are worried about something, then here are a few ideas to shake yourself free:

1.) Have A Conversation God! Remember that a good conversation involves talking and listening.

2.) Make A Plan! Do what you can and then let go of the rest and believe, have faith and trust in God. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it, if you will love and trust Him. Do your part, trust God and I promise you, He will do His…

3.) Live And Learn! Looking back on my life, I have discovered that so many of the things that I wasted time worrying about never happened. Out of the things that did happen, most of them were not near as bad as I convinced myself that they were going to be. And from everything bad that flowed my way, as I lived through it, I grew from it. I am a better person and I am enjoying life better today, because of everything I have been through.

One of the most simple and great reminders that keeps me on a good path is simply this: God’s Got A Plan And It’s To Bless Me!