This is a hard question for me to answer because I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. At one point I said I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I knew for a fact when I said it, that it would never really happen because it required another 12 years of school and there was no way I was doing that!
I also dreamed one day to have a nice house in a peaceful neighborhood, with a husband and a family, but after some major disappointments and some hard life lessons, those dreams fell by the wayside too. Instead, I was a single mom with 3 kids, working hard but never having enough money to survive, living in a rough neighborhood, and our lives were anything but peaceful. My children and I witnessed crime on a daily basis, and I worried about them playing outside or walking to and from the bus stop for school every single day.
So, what were my dreams then you might ask? To get out of that neighborhood and buy a house, that’s it and that’s all, so I did, but life was still a struggle. I still had money problems, and neighbors that were not very neighborly, but one thing that I have learned to accept over time is that this is God’s plan for my life, and not mine.
The reason that I say that is because I know now that if I did not struggle the way that I did, or experience the pain that I went through, or if my heart had never been broken, then I could never truly understand the depth of the love that Jesus had for us when He suffered and died on that cross.
In my mind, I think that to know love is to know pain because pain changes us, and it changes our hearts. You see, we are all perfectly imperfect human beings, meaning that we fall short of God’s perfect standards because of sin. With that being said, we are bound to hurt each other at times, and cause each other pain, but what do we do with that pain when it comes?
Do we bottle it up inside until we explode in anger and frustration, or do we give it to God and move on?
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…” Philippians 3:12
Do we continue to run it through our minds over and over again, thinking about what we could have said, should have said, or shouldn’t have said?, or do we give it to God and let go?
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
Do we get down ourselves and become sad and depressed, or do we learn to deal with people accordingly? Are we listening more than we are talking? Are we making an effort to understand where they are coming from, or what they might be going through? Are we loving unconditionally and giving them grace like Jesus gives us.
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Last but not least, I leave you with this, how many times does the bible say that we should forgive others? “Not 7 times, but 77 times” (Matthew 18:22), meaning that you might have to forgive somebody more than once. In fact, you may have to forgive them over and over again, and boy is that hard!
With that being said family, my prayer for you today is that you will know love because of your pain, and that you will embrace these experiences as something that made you stronger and brought you closer to God because you needed Him to get through it. I also pray that you are able to forgive anybody who has hurt you and caused you pain, not 7 times, but 77 times, so that you can move forward and experience the dreams that God has planned for you and not just your own.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.