DON'T JUST BEAR PAIN, USE IT!

It's a cold snowy morning here in Ohio. I live on a hill and this time of year I kind of hibernate like some of the critters! (Not the sleeping part!) I can slide down the hill, but the thought of "Can I make it back up to the garage when I come home?" is a little daunting. So, I stay home a lot and my contact with adults feels somewhat limited. Thank you Lord for the phone and also, thank you, all you bloggers! I feel like I get to get out and visit with you all!

This morning I was reminded of this gem that was shared with me after my daughter died, almost 10 years ago. I think it is from one of Mrs. Charles Cowman's books, maybe Streams in the Desert. I'm not sure. It is something I read and reread... May God work His magic through it again!

Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Hebrews 12:2

The joy of the spirit is no cheap joy. It has scars on it – radiant scars! It is joy won out of the heart of pain. Those who know it have found one of life’s deepest and most transforming secrets the transmuting of pain into a paean (dictionary def. “a song of praise, joy, thanksgiving or triumph).
Sorrow becomes not something to escape; we can make it sing. We can set our tears to music, and no music is so exquisite, so compelling. The Christians learned immediately and at once the truth which the philosopher Royce puts into these words.
“Such ills we remove only as we assimilate them, take them up into the plan of our lives, give them meaning, set them in their place in the whole.”
When their heart strings were stretched upon some cross of pain and the winds of persecution blew through them, then from this “human” Aeolian harp (a box with an opening across which are stretched a number of strings of equal length that are tuned in unison and sounded by the wind) men heard the very music of God.
THEY DID NOT BEAR PAIN, THEY USED IT!

The plan of the enemy of our souls is very thwarted when this happens. I love it when that happens! I think this epitomizes the meaning of "We've been made more than conquerors."

I believe submitting our hearts to God to keep, to heal, to do with as He wills, is where the magic happens. Somehow He can use our pain and turn it into something most precious, to us and Him both. A verse that gives me comfort, is Psalm 51:17.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

In complete surrender to God, we give Him the right to rule our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our feelings. We make Him King! Long Live The King! Let's let Him be who He is, our REDEEMER!