Earlier today, I had the chance to have lunch with a friend. What’s interesting is we knew of each other almost 20 years ago but haven’t seen one another, or spoke since then. But today’s conversation was more than catching up. It was more than talking about the old days. It was a conversation that would change me.
Just recently, I had the chance to serve on a men’s weekend retreat and guess who was there? He was! It was great getting the chance to reconnect, catch up and spend several days together, worshiping with 40 other guys as we studied scripture, sang songs and enjoyed getting to know a lot of new friends.
While on that weekend, I served as one of five Pastor’s who were there for 2 purposes: 1. Be there for the guys if they needed to talk, pray, vent, etc., 2. Speak (or preach) once during the weekend. Little did I know that by sharing my story, sharing the pain that I had been through, that it would lead to what I experienced today.
As we met at this local pizza & sub joint, he asked me a question that I’ve never been asked until today, “Do you enjoy telling your story?” My story is painful. It’s raw, it’s real and it still hurts many days. The only thing I knew to tell him was this, “I wouldn’t say that I enjoy telling my story or that it brings me any sort of fulfillment. But, what it does is it lets other people know they aren’t alone and that pain never has to be purposeless. God can use any pain for something greater than just pain itself.”
After a few more minutes of talking about this, he opened up and shared his story with me. As I sat and listened, I began wondering how it was possible for him, or anyone, to continue to hold it together while sharing all of this. The tragedy, the pain and the hopelessness that existed through so much of this…I don’t know how any human being could handle that much pain.
But….and there’s always a but….we share something in common. It’s the thing we talked about after he shared his story with me. He had a cheeseburger and I had chicken sub. As he was finishing his burger, I told him that if I have learned anything, it’s this: While I can’t relate to his pain, and he can’t relate to mine, the pain we both have experienced is very real, very personal & hurts very badly. In the end, he could live without that cheeseburger and fries. I could live without that chicken sub and fries I had already finished. The one thing that neither of us, nor anyone else could live without, is hope!
There was a point in my story when I couldn’t see a way out or a light at the end of the tunnel. There were lots of things that didn’t make sense. For him, there are lots of unanswered questions now, things in the future that are uncertain, relationships that are broken that need to be restored.
The thing we both share in common is this: we have hope and it comes from one place, or one person: Jesus! While our stories are very different and we have both experienced deep hurt and pain, there is a hope that runs much deeper. You see, Jesus knows all about pain. Not only that, He knows all about overcoming it. He endured being beaten, a crown of thorns forced onto His head, made to carry a wooden cross with little to no energy left while in extreme pain. Then He was nailed to a cross, crucified, left to die while people watched and mocked Him.
The moment that Jesus breathed His last, everyone thought that was the end of His story. Little did they understand that this was only the beginning.
You see, 3 days later, the power of God raised Jesus’ body up out of that tomb. Not only that, but He did it with power and precision. The boulder covering the door was obliterated. The amount of power it took to do that was something no one had ever seen! The cloth covering Jesus’ face wasn’t just tossed aside like the rest of the wrappings. No, it was folded and laying in another spot from everything else.
You see, God’s specialty is Redemption. The same power that destroyed that rock, folded that head covering and brought Jesus out of that grave is the same power that lives in you and me, if we have a relationship with Him! The pain Jesus went through had a purpose! It was the catalyst to the power that brought Jesus out and made a way for all mankind!
Today, God wants you to know that your pain has purpose! He wants to bury it in a tomb and allow that same life-giving power to raise it up, redeem it & give you hope. Then as you heal, He wants to use you to translate that hope to others so that they can know hope exists and exactly where it comes from. You see, we can never give anyone else our hope! We can only share our hope with them and allow them to discover the same hope, from the same person, who offers it to them the same as it's offered to us.
So the next chance you get, share your story! Don’t be afraid of your pain! You never know who’s listening, who needs to know they aren’t alone and that God isn’t finished with them yet either!
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