Is There Purpose in Pain?

{Section of a Renoir painting, zoomed in and cropped}

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ~Romans 8

Stand too close to a Renoir and it's nonsensical. No rhyme or reason can be rendered.

Step back. A little more... A little more... Sporadic details and colors come into focus. The totality of each minute brush stroke takes its place in the bigger picture.

Holy reasons of redemption whisper to draw us one step back at a time. Quietly they woo us out of our foxholes to see each painful stroke is a thing of beauty in the bigger picture. Foxholes fill with doubtful debris, painful pasts and shameful soot. Entrenched with these things, we're too close to see Love's holy reasons of redemption.

Ironically, each step back is actually a step forward. Stepping back {from negative thoughts} opens our minds and hearts to see the rhyme and reason of the road we're on. This gives freedom to totally step forward in the redemption of Love's bigger picture.

Step by step, I've crawled out of my foxhole over the past year. Part of me wishes I had listened to the voice of Love sooner; accepted holy reasons of redemption as truth quicker. Yet therein lies the glory of the bigger picture.... everything can be used; even our own fear, timidity and stubbornness. Miraculously, I now see how the pain is being redeemed; I see how the pain is a thing of beauty. I never thought I would.

How about you? What circumstances and thoughts are you entrenched in a foxhole with? Do you feel hopeless; do you fear your pain is without purpose?

May I humbly invite you to step back with me and a few very special friends I've asked to Jump Off the Train {of negative thought} this week? Whatever the root of your pain, my hope is you'll hear Love's voice and the holy reasons of redemption in their stories. And that you are able to see your bigger picture, and how each stroke of pain is a thing of beauty when redeemed by Love.

This week's exciting line up!
Stained and Ruined with Melissa Taylor
Do You Want to be Healed? with Wendy Blight
Feeling Weak with Mary DeMuth
Stepping Stones with Stephanie Clayton

{Can you see the bigger picture?}

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it." ~Isaiah 30