Purposeful Pain

     The two most important days of our life are the day we are born and the day we find out why. I consider myself blessed to have discovered my purpose. It took all of twenty-nine years to accept my why. I’ve always known that I had a call on my life but because of my past, I had a hard time believing that I was worthy enough for the call. Moments leading up to God revealing my purpose to me I took the steps to start removing anything negative in my life. I knew that to live my purpose I had to let go of everything and everyone that would hinder me from the process of living out my purpose. Before the day that I found out my purpose, I fasted, prayed and believed that God would give me a sign of what I was supposed to do with my life. I had the faith that God was listening. After praying with action on the morning of October 4, 2015, I received confirmation and I began to release. 

  I felt God’s presence in my soul. I heard God say to me “I have not forgotten about you, all that you have been through will be for the Kingdom, it was for the greater good and it is for this moment right now. All of a sudden it clicked, all of the pain that I’ve experienced in my life was going to be used to bless others. I was called and I accepted the call! Sometimes we’re assigned mountains to simply show others that they can be moved. While you’re in the midst of pain it’s hard to think that the pain can bring you closer to God, closer to your destiny, and closer to your purpose. It’s important to allow healing to take place. We all have experienced pain in our lives. There are two types of ways to deal with pain. The most common way is to let your pain overtake you by not fully allowing yourself to heal. The other and best way to deal with pain is to let it make you stronger and grow through transparency. Too often we allow guilt and shame to set in our minds, we rather privately mask our pain in fear of being judged. Being transparent and honest with ourselves allows us to not only correctly heal but it shows others that pain is temporary and can be used as a stepping stone toward greatness.

     I spent too many years masking the pain from my past. Looking back I confused strength with denial. I thought that if I didn’t talk about my past then it wouldn’t affect me but subconsciously it was affecting my life. The pain that I experienced from my childhood was always in the back of my mind, I learned to suppress my feelings. I unwillingly rested the memory in my brain. Looking back, my strength weighed me down. I had to learn the hard way how our past; if not dealt with, can create more damage to our mind, body, and soul.

As Christians, we are often told to pray, let go, and forgive and forget. When dealing with pain there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all all-way of healing. I tried to pray the pain away, I forgave but I couldn’t forget no matter how hard I tried. I tried letting go but mentally my past painful experiences were always lingering around. Scientists say that any pain lasting more than a few minutes leaves a trace in our nervous system. As humans, our brains are designed to record events, visions, and words and they all get stored into our memory. If we can forget, it would mean that our brains aren’t functioning properly. Forgetting is impossible as humans. It may be a hidden dark trait of humans to remember the negative experiences more than the positive experiences without any doing of our own.

     My purpose for writing this book is to heal others through my story. In life, we all have things that have occurred. This is a book that will allow readers to examine their past and prayerfully be able to turn their pain into purpose. I believe that our past is a perfect situation for a great future. In writing this book I had to be completely authentic and transparent. In my healing process, I’ve learned that by being open, honest, and willing to tell your story you allow God to use you as a vessel to encourage others and to help others begin their healing. Letting go of your past will not only set you free but it will also allow you to be the complete being that God needs you to be.  The worst moments in life can sometimes be the very thing that brings us closer to God. I’ve never seen a strong person who didn’t have a tough past. We all will experience pain, hurt, upsetting moments, and challenging obstacles at some point in our lives. God gives us rain so that we can be grateful for sunshine. It is often in the place of our greatest battle that God reveals his greatest glory. Pain leads you to your purpose. We become so that others can become!

Use these four simple tips for finding your calling:

1. Commit to Prayer

   
   

2. Walk in the Will of God. Psalm 139 speaks of God's amazing love for each of us personally

   
   

3. Let go of doubt, fear, and the oppression of opinions from others

   
   

4. Lean into what you do naturally with ease and excellence

   
   
   
   

     To truly let go, you must first understand that it will be a process, you must decide to let go and forgive. Painful memories don’t disappear on their own. You must express your pain, you must focus on the now, you must realize who matters and you must disconnect. Letting go is hard! Depending on how much pain you’ve experienced the journey of healing will take longer. True healing will require God, transparency, vulnerability, compassion, forgiveness, and many cry-out sessions. This book will walk you through the steps to finding your purpose while letting go of whatever it is that is holding you back from living your best life.