I just have to tell y’all what happened last night at small group because while it makes me look like a bit of a buffoon, it shows how incredible my small group is.

So we are doing Joy Eggerichs’s Illumination Project. It is incredible and I think any small group would benefit from it. This week was all about how Joy entered into ministry and the catalyst that got her there.

And during this week’s video, she spent good time talking about a painful breakup and how that launched her into a new season and eventually into ministry.

When the video ended, we discussed a host of topics, asked questions, shared some heart stuff. And when things got quiet, thinking about Joy and her ministry birthed out of a really dark time, I said, “sometimes it makes me mad that God uses the painful things in my life. Like, it’s hard for me that some of the things I don’t want to write about- like singleness- are the posts that really matter to people. I don’t always like sharing the things He asks me to share. Sometimes I don’t like sharing the parts of my life that are hard.”

And then Jordin, one of my girls, looks at me and says, “yeah. I get that. But we live in a fallen world, and we don’t get everything we want, and bad things happen to good people. I guess I look at it like a gift that God takes the bad things and redeems them to good things. It’s like when you share your stories and people are impacted, God is redeeming the hard times. God using your pain is actually really Him being kind and making your pain matter.”

And then she dropped the mic.

(Not really. 🙂 We don’t use a microphone in small group.)

But man did God convict and speak to my heart in that moment.

He brings victory in my life by going right to the place where I feel defeated and asking me to share from there.

What I was viewing as an unfair use of my pain? God is actually seeing as His redeeming hand.

What I get mad about? It’s actually God’s grace in my life.

What I wish He would leave alone? He uses FOR MY GOOD.

I call it a disappointment, a pain, a hurt. He calls it a gift.

AND HE IS RIGHT.

. . . . .

I needed to be reminded of allllll of that.

Maybe you needed that reminder today, too. That God is good and right and true and using all things for the good of those who love Him.

Maybe you needed a good solid reminder that the gal on the other side of this screen (me!) is far from perfect.

Or maybe you need a reminder that your pain matters. And God will use it.

So here is your reminder:

Your pain matters.

God will redeem it.

He uses all things for His glory and for your good.

. . . . .

Happy Wednesday, friend. Praying these things for you today. Really.

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