There is pain and then there is PAIN

There is a list somewhere of the most painful experiences one can have in life. Among the top three are pregnancy and kidney stones.

Well, I've not experienced pregnancy, but I have had kidney stones. They hurt with a capital "H". I also know what six days of viral meningitis feels like and I've had that in the last 15 months. And I've seen the incredible pain that inflicted Debbie during her chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries.

OK. So I know physical pain. But there is another pain that is just as horrific. It's the pain of watching your house go further and further into debt. I've got that pain as well. And it is a real "gotcha on the ropes" kind of pain.

The problem with this pain is that it impacts everyone in the household: Mom, Dad and Children. I think even the cat knows there is trouble brewing.

It's the pain of deciding which of your childhood remnants you sell on the driveway to a stranger. It's the pain of knowing that your dream of watching your girls have their wedding receptions in your backyard when they grow up vanish. It's the pain of knowing your wife is torn up trying to keep the family nest in one piece but being powerless to do so.

I know God has a great plan for us. I also know that part of that plan is to turn our pain over to Him. But I'm here to say that this is a learning process that will take me a lifetime to accomplish well.

So I pray. And I read the Bible. And I ask for strength to get up one more day and walk through it.

And every single day God meets me. He meets me in the small flowers in our gardens that only He could create so beautifully. He meets me as I watch the birds gather their food without worry as a metaphor that I need to do the same. He meets me in the endless love of my children and my wife. He meets me in the quiet of prayer time. And He meets me in the kindness of friends.

So each day I am learning to turn the emotional pain over to Him. There is no other way to handle it. There is no other "god" who actually cares for me like the most sincere lover I can imagine.

That is why I have hope. Not that I first loved God, but that He first loved me. No other god acts with volitional love. And for that I am profoundly in awe.

So for today's pain...I tell you to go check in with my Maker. He'll set you straight and send you back from whence you came.

Jack