THE OPPORTUNITY OF PAIN

     We don’t own our pain. It’s for public service. Whether it’s sorrow, hurt, regret, disappointment, afflictions, persecution, or some other form of suffering, our pain is never an end in itself. It’s an invitation to serve.
     Life has no safe harbors against pain. Thus, as long as we live we shall have the privilege of meeting pain—our own share of pain. When encountered, true pain needs no introduction, for it is its own introduction. And when pain greets us with its commanding presence, it also whispers its royal mission: It’s our pain that equips us to empathize with those who go through similar things we’ve experienced. It is what most qualifies us to comfort those who’re hurting. And it’s that which gives us the credibility to speak to a suffering world.
     Thank God for the pain in your life. Hard as it might be to believe, the more you hurt the nearer God is. Through your pain, He can do far more with you, and bring out of you a far better person than without it. One day you will discover that the most painful thing that ever happened to you was also one of the most useful tools there could ever have been for your refinement. Your pain is your greatest opportunity for service, see it for its purpose and not its ache (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4; cf. Hebrews 2:18).—Samuel Koranteng-Pipim