Move Past Your Pain

Everyone deals with emotional pain to some degree. Whether it’s a difficult relationship, an addiction, abuse or even depression, past hurts can cripple us and prevent us from moving forward. But regardless of what’s happened in our past, God still wants us to have a great future.

He Can Fix the Unfixable

For years, even as a Christian, I thought I had to settle for a second-rate life because I had been sexually abused by my father. I thought my future would never be as good as it could have been.

That’s what our enemy, Satan, wants us to believe. He wants us to “park” right where we are, believing that our past pain has permanently damaged what God can do with our future.

Maybe that’s where you are today. You look at everything you’ve been through and think, My situation’s just a hopeless mess. Maybe it would be different if God did something a few years ago, but now it’s beyond repair.

If so, I want you to know that we serve the God of the impossible—He can fix the unfixable and bring dead things back to life! (Matthew 19:26)

If you are brokenhearted—if you’ve been hurt, abused, disappointed or unfairly treated in any way—it doesn’t limit what God can do in your life. In fact, God is the only One Who can give you a future that’s better than it would have been before.

Look with me at Isaiah 61:7-8. This scripture has meant so much to me over the years. It says, Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. For I the Lord love justice…(ESV).

Through scriptures like this one in Isaiah, God helped me to understand that no person can ever pay me back for what I went through—but He can. It even says He will give us double for all for all of the pain we have gone through!

I’ve witnessed this firsthand in my own life. Despite all of the pain and abuse I suffered growing up, God has used His Word to transform me from the inside out. Instead of anger and bitterness, I now have peace and joy. Instead of being a victim of my past abuse, He is using my experiences to help thousands of others walk free from emotional pain!

Leave It All Behind

Isaiah 61:1-3 is one of the most-quoted passages in the Bible, and it contains a major key to emotional healing. This passage says Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…(NKJV).

I love this—Jesus has already opened the prison doors! We no longer have to stay in the “prisons” of emotional pain, rejection, disappointment, worry, depression, anger, addictions or bad habits.

If you’ve ever dealt with any of these things, you know they can have long-lasting consequences. Pain from the past has a way of lingering and even affecting your future.

But I want you to know that you don’t have to live stuck in the pain of your past. You can make an exchange. You can trade in your pain for God’s promise. You can have beauty instead of ashes.

God offers each one of us healing and restoration, but we also have a part to play in the process. We can’t expect to keep our “ashes” and still receive God’s beauty. What do I mean? We have to choose to move forward and leave things like bitterness, resentment, and self-pity behind.

I’ll admit, self-pity was a hard thing for me to give up. I had used it for years to comfort myself when I was hurting. However, the Lord showed me that it’s actually idolatry—it’s turning inward and pitying ourselves when we should have compassion flowing out of us to other people.

Self-pity is a major trap that will keep us stuck in our pain. It’s the same with bitterness and resentment. It took me a long time to get past the point of thinking, Someone owes me. I was bitter and angry about my past, and I ended up taking it out on my husband, Dave, and everyone else around me. For years, I tried to “collect” from people who had no way of paying me back.

I had to make the exchange. I had to make a decision to let go of my anger and resentment. I had to trust God and believe that He would pay me back and make wrong things right in His way and in His timing.

Change Your Attitude

I’ve discovered that one of the most powerful things we can do is change our attitude. Instead of focusing all of our thoughts on what went wrong and what we don’t have, we can choose to maintain a positive, grateful attitude—an attitude that focuses on God’s blessings and all of the great things He is doing in our lives.

Whatever you’ve gone through or wherever you may be today, I want you to know that pain doesn’t have the final say in your life—God does. And He can take any situation and turn it around for His good.

You were never meant to live a life defined by words like ashes, mourning, and heaviness. Jesus died to give you a life of beauty, joy, and praise!

If you feel like your life is a fragmented mess, let Jesus gather up the pieces. As you do, your pain will become someone else’s gain, your mess will become your message, and what you’ve walked through will become someone else’s miracle.

Always remember, God can restore whatever you’ve lost and bring forth something beautiful...even in the most unlikely places.