Endow our pain with purpose

By Michelle Lee

Can we think about a baby? Perhaps, your baby…Did he or she just start walking without falling?

No. There would have been many falls but certainly, many more attempts to get back up.

Why, though? Was the child cognizant of dangers around him at that tender age or did he just want to roam and taste what his gaze was set upon?

What is our gaze upon? Are we going where we are watching without watching where we are going? A child is determined, focused, and unbothered, innocently exploring his world, depending on someone to guide him. Are we suffering heartache because a person was not guided by God’s word, the only rubric and truth? How are we responding? Are we also not responding through God’s word and becoming Christ like? How does God respond to us for not following His example of redemption? God sent His only son to die for us, the highest price paid. He knew we were incapable of overcoming sin on our own and combating what the evil one would do to our minds. We suffer when we choose not to believe in God.

A child pursues by sight and might, Yes! To get that crumb on the floor, the cockroach leg, the cobweb, the coin, the paper clip, etc…

Do we focus on what is on the floor whilst being led by sight and emotions? We grow out of our comfort zones while refocusing our energy on building the new. We could be a victim of something or someone but do we wish to become a victim of self?

1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” Have we done away with childish things? Are we living by sight as opposed to faith when we know faith alone will see His face? Having that faith brings victory.

Isaiah 26:3-4:‘Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee.” Our lives become masterpieces when we learn to master peace.

Could we recall how many times our Lord Jesus fell? He carried His cross so we could live by way of His example.

NO ONE IS EXEMPTED FROM PAIN. He chose to turn weakness into strength, brokenness into wholeness, helplessness into power. What are we turning our pain into? How do we expect to learn and depend on God fully if we are not allowing Him to show us His love and existence in our lives? There is no turning back after one encounters God.

Paul, formerly known as Saul: Paul is one of the people in the Bible who teaches us the most about redemption. He started as a religious zealot who murdered Christians and he ended up converting after an encounter with Jesus, becoming one of the most transformative figures in the Bible. No one is too far gone…that is one of the devil’s lies.

The Catechism teaches that suffering can have a redemptive value when united with the suffering of Christ. Therefore, the right attitude towards sufferings and pains is to offer them up in union with Christ’s suffering, recognizing their potential growth and redemption of oneself and others. Christ fully discloses the meaning of suffering and participates in it in His redemptive work.

2. Purification for Sins: The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains.

Remember David? David had to face the consequences of his sins, even though he repented and his connection to God was restored. A string of tragic events befell David’s family; the record of lust, murder, rebellion, and exile, added up to a price David probably never dreamed he would have to pay when he first fell into sin.

Suffering can serve as a way to expiate (make amends or reparation) sins and grow in holiness. God’s idea of greatness, and God’s path to greatness, is nothing like the world’s idea of greatness. Suffering is a product of the fall, a consequence of human sin against God (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21). Suffering is in our lives because we are living in a broken world. Some suffering is due to our sinful and wrong choices, but some is due simply to the world being fallen.