Necessary Pain - Part 2 : Process of Parting Ways

One of the most difficult things to grasp and embrace is pain being a part of our growth process. This is due to placing a greater emphasis on the mental and physical feeling of pain during a trial instead of what we'll become after enduring it. One definition of the word endure is to suffer something painful or difficult with patience. Think about the pain Jesus Christ endured on the cross. He suffered patiently knowing that it would provide us grace and eternal life. This sacrifice also lead to one of the greatest stories ever, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What if one sacrifice or enduring a painful process could lead to your greatest story ever?

One way to endure or suffer patiently is to trust who you are sacrificing for. God didn't give up his only son without something bigger in mind. God wouldn't ask us to sacrifice something without the intention to bless us with better things. One requirement is sacrificing what we want in order to receive what we need, and this can be painful. It reminds me of a child not wanting to give up old toys or someone having a difficult time giving up soda to get in shape. We often put our personal desires before God's. I don't believe this occurs because we care about ourselves more than God. I believe this occurs because it brings the least amount of pain. It's easy to remain stuck in our ways and remain content with our lives, but we must change some things if we wish to grow. How can God send us more blessings if we don't have enough room to receive them? We must enlarge our capacity, and eliminating unnecessary things in our life such as negative thoughts, bad habits, and uninspired people is one way to accomplish this. It can be a painful process but it's required if we desire to grow, and live life more abundantly.