Immediate Action Required - Part I

When you find a way of managing a deep, dark pain, the last thing you want to do is admit there is something wrong with the "solution."  For the entire month of January, I have been mulling over this concept of pain. I have been in prayer about what is it that has most of us doing things we know we shouldn't do. The answer that keeps coming back to me is…pain. I guess I could write a book on pain as I am currently wrestling with a deep pain as I type.  I suspect this topic will be one that I explore over several posts b/c it just has too much information to stuff in one post. 

I think the most clever strategy the adversary could have ever used against a people today is pain. Pain can rear its head in ways that we would never even realize. Pain hides in the shadows and directs a person's life like a ghostwriter.  Pain is experienced directly or indirectly - meaning you might not be able to put your finger on it, but it's there.  Pain can be as simple as never being pretty enough, never being smart enough, living in or growing up in poverty,  to more serious experiences like abuse (any type). We could make a huge pain list with examples, couldn't we?  For the purposes of this blog series, I want us to dig deep and search for the root of the pain in our lives. Knowing this will help us to overcome.

The cost of denial and pride
I think the biggest mistake anyone could ever make is to deny the fact that the pain exists even if you are not the person experiencing the pain. In today's society, so many people encourage the "solution" that others have embraced to cope with the pain they are feeling. It is important to note that while the coping strategy may seem to liberate the person, it is doing the exact opposite and more importantly, leaving less space for the individual in pain to really be introspective. You see, if you and I believe that the coping strategy is indeed liberating, it doesn't make sense to address the pain.  Here is a small scale example of pain: the girl who doesn't think she is pretty enough, adopts the coping strategy of dressing in a way that shows off her shape because it brings her attention and compliments. Now, this seems trivial, but it's real. Even though she seems to have a new found confidence and getting the attention she is craving, it doesn't address the root of her pain. Since beneath the fitting clothes, she still doesn't find herself pretty enough so the thoughts sound like: if it weren't for your shape, you know that….  This situation seems innocent enough but...

The moment we begin to deny the presence of pain, we usher ourselves into a false reality. We have to always act out this false reality b/c if we don't, we have to address the pain <-- which is too painful.  The truth is, we are always aware that that pain is still there and it indirectly dictates our every move. So why not just address the pain?  Addressing the pain takes courage - it requires one to move from self-absorption to self acceptance. If that person is willing to pray and be introspective, they can gain insight that will lead to truth. And truth will liberate you indeed.  Let's be in prayer about our pain as we explore this series.

Psalm 147:3