After Great Pain



Thought for the Day: Painful times do not last forever.  
Let me repeat.
Painful times do NOT let forever - 




Stormy seasons can leave you enriched if you work through trials as a student -  ready to learn more about how we are shaped by difficult seasons. 


I have seen folks get lost in the storm - which is easy to do because we are human and things hurt - and some people have storm upon storm - and hard seasons for a decade or maybe what even feels like all their life. 

But when you turn your thinking to see the growth that can come - to see what truly brings inner joy - well you can become empowered.

When you change your outlook - everything else lines up - It is easier said than done, but it starts with at least thinking about how you view trial and setback.

I was just reading about how some depression is "anger turned inwards" and I will reflect more on that later, but for now - please assess how you have been responding to setback.  Are you wallowing - are you failing to see that maybe some of your choices have played a part - or are you being stubborn because your expectations fail to be modified - (Larry Crabb referred to this condition as "demandingness" - and sometimes we might be demanding our way - as pride and ego are buried beneath our complaints and feelings of being on the hard path.  Woe and displacement might actually be from faulty thinking. 

So ask yourself: 

Is it time for a new approach?  Is it time to at least consider changing your response?


Well at least remember to lighten up.

Do not carry the weight of problems in your chest and on your shoulders.  
Remember to learn from tough days. 
Improve as you go - and force yourself to grasp the lessons to behold....

Because painful days do pass.  Yes, they do. 




Emily Dickinson summed it up well:


After great pain, 


a formal feeling comes 
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs – 




First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –

~~~~~~~

Read Dickinson's entire poem at PF HERE