Pain

God,



As I think back to the years that I have lived, many days have been scarred with pain. Not every day and not in every way but there are many days that I have felt intense pain. Tonight, Kat and I watched one of our guilty pleasures on television, Once Upon a Time. Near the end of the show, Grumpy the dwarf told Snow White, pain makes me who I am.

I think that this speaks of the old debate, "Would you change your past if you could?" If you could go back and change an experience from your past, would you?

During the time that I was experiencing the painful moments, I think that I would have gladly given them up (or drank the magical potion like in the show) and not cared if they affected my future me.

• Having my dad work out of town for all of those years
• Brother almost dying (Stabbed several times in Wal-mart bathroom and ran off the road)
• Grandmother dying in 7th grade
• High School (enough said)
• Broken hearts
• Feeling Alone
• Parent's relationship struggles
• Not getting high enough score on LSAT to go to the law school that I wanted
• Mistakes made
• Infertility

However, as I ponder on just a few of the painful moments from my past, I can see how each of these moments shaped me, changed me and led me down the road to become the man that I am today. Therefore, I would have to agree with Grumpy that the moments of our past whether painful or filled with joy have shaped my life.

No matter our pain, no matter our wounds, no matter our struggles, You can heal our pain, You can turn our wounds into scars and You can use our struggles to bring us closer to You.

Please give us strength to see past our current pain to our future story.

Derek