Pain and Blessings

Are there blessings in pain?

Who among you, when starting on your faith journey, thought that being a Christian brings exemption from the pain and hardships? According to James, we should welcome trials of many kinds as friends, with pure joy, because the testing of faith produces perseverance (v. 2, 3).

Pain helps us turn from sin. 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT) says, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow.” God can use our own personal pain to help us turn away from sin and seek what is eternal. It prepares us for bigger battles that will mold us to be the person God purposed us to be. Are you afraid of sorrow and pain? Ask God to help change your perspective—to see pain as something to be endured with hope and expectancy that God would use it for you to have a personal encounter with Him and to experience blessings in your life. Pain can help you focus on Him and not on yourself.