Pastor’s Corner: “Relief Factor”
Psalm 34:18 (NLT) – 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Does it ever feel like the heartbreak in your life is trying to break you? I understand. I really do. I’ve been in that place where the pain of heartbreak hits with such sudden and sharp force that it feels like it cuts through skin and bone. It’s the kind of pain that leaves us wondering if we’ll ever be able to function like a normal person again. But God tenderly reminds us that pain itself is not the enemy. Pain is the indicator that brokenness exists.
Pain is the reminder that the real enemy is trying to take us out and bring us down by keeping us stuck in broken places. Pain is the gift that motivates us to trust the Lord more and fight, knowing there’s healing on the other side. Pain is the invitation for God to move in and replace our faltering strength with His. I’m not writing this to throw out spiritual platitudes that sound good; I write it from the depth of a heart that knows it’s the only way.
It often seems the only choice is to run from the pain by using some method of numbing. But numbing the pain — with food, achievements, drugs, alcohol or sex — never goes to the source of the real issue to make us healthier. We think we are freeing ourselves from the pain when, in reality, what numbs us imprisons us. It slowly kills the potential for our hearts to fully feel, fully connect, and fully love. It even steals the best in our relationship with God.
So how do we get relief? We invite God’s closeness in our isolation, His strength in our weakness, His healing in our brokenness and we allow God to use our pain to help others. II Corinthians 1:4-5 (NLT) – [God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
Who’s better qualified to help a struggling veteran than somebody who’s been a struggling veteran? Who’s better qualified to help someone recovering from a prescription drug addiction than somebody who has recovered from a prescription drug addiction? Who could better help someone who is suffering from a chronic illness than someone who has also suffered in the same way? Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain. If you’ll be honest with God, others, and yourself about whatever struggle you’ve faced, then that struggle will become your ministry.
Think about it, sharing your strengths doesn’t make you feel any closer to someone. But when you share the experiences that have led you to surrender to God and rely on his strength, then you’ll be connected to others more deeply than you can imagine. Why? Because when you—as a broken person—share with other broken people how God has restored you, you’re not just sharing something you have in common. You’re sharing hope that other people can also experience redemption through Jesus Christ.
Don’t waste your pain. Let God use it for your greatest ministry.
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton