No Pain, No Gain

I have been having some tightness in my shoulders lately and my chiropractor, Dr. Daryl, suggested that I begin lifting weights again. You see, I do this in my basement and ever since we had the flood in the basement, I have not gotten back to my weight workouts.

It had been a couple months and I just knew that when I began, I would be very sore...so I just put it off. Well, this weekend I finally got back at it. And guess what? I am sore. But it's a good kind of sore. I know it is all for good.

We also decorated our house on Saturday for Christmas. The thought of this on Friday had my wife and I groaning. Don't get me wrong, we love Christmas. It's just that this task seems to be more overwhelming each year. But, we did it.

Not only did we get it done, we actually had a little fun doing it (I love working alongside Connie...it's one of my favorite things to do). Then she and I got to go out to dinner and have a nice evening together enjoying our newly decorated house.

Many times, in order to move forward, we will need to experience pain or at least do some things that we are not excited about. I heard it said once that pain is mandatory but suffering is optional. It's all attitude.

Pains Purpose II

On Monday night I had a deep tissue massage. It had been quite a few years since I had this done. I had always remembered it to be a very relaxing, enjoyable experience. Monday's was anything but enjoyable. In fact, it was quite painful.

The therapist said the I am a massage therapist's dream because there is so much work to be done on me. She didn't even leave my shoulders and neck area for the hour-long session. It seems like there were about 50 marbles in that region of my body that she tried to work out, hence the pain.

On my drive home I did feel a bit more relaxed in my shoulders. Then yesterday morning brought with it more pain. It had felt like I had lost a back-alley fight. I am still sore even this morning.

In spite of this pain, I am going back again on Monday because I know I need to get this worked out to help me with some issues I am having in my arms. So, this is a time when I can truly be thankful for the pain, because I know it will lead to good.

In relation to life I suppose there are a few parallels:
1. If we have pain in our life, it will lead to good if we love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)
2. To get where we need to go, we oftentimes will need to fight through unpleasantness and persevere (Hebrews 10:36)
3. Like I posted about yesterday, our pain could be God preparing us to minister to others who will go through similar pain (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Pain's Purpose

On Sunday, our pastor delivered a message about how God can, and often, uses our pain from our past to help others who are going through some tough times in their lives. During his sermon he said, "There is a purpose behind your pain. Your greatest contribution or ministry will probably not come from your strengths. It will come from your struggles."

As I reflected on my life, I had to agree with him. One of the toughest periods of my life was when I was VP of Sales for a company in town. I had a boss who was an absolute tyrant. He would rant, rave and cuss at me and others. He would throw things. He even once ripped the thermostat off the wall when he was hot. It was an extremely unhealthy environment. I was stressed beyond the max and it impacted every area of my life, and maybe most of all my family.

However, looking back on this I am so thankful that God placed my boss in my life. While it was brutal, it led to me writing the book Bleedership, Biblical First-Aid for Leaders in which I contrast my boss' leadership style with that of the great leaders in the Bible. As a result of that, the trajectory of my life has been changed drastically. I know that through my tough times there are some people who have been helped.

If you are going through a period of difficulty, know that God is preparing you for ministry, to impact others. God never wastes a hurt!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4