Why do you expect pleasure with-out pain? You cannot appreciate the dawn without a journey through the night. D. Riddell 
I like to get up early in the morning. It's quiet, peaceful and I get to see the sunrise. 
Today I looked out on the dawning of a summers day.
3. Gather people around you that believe in the dawn. Find people who may well have been there and done that. They may well have travelled through similar dark places. I recall the words of the Servant Song.
I have seen it too many times now. People looking for the magic trick of a quick and cost free solution to their pain, and people who believe they have that cure.
No clouds in the sky just beautiful apricot tinges of colour.
Every minute I looked out the window the scene changed, the colours evolved and I experienced something completely new and never seen before.
Where are you in emotional pain? What do you carry that you rather not?
Memories, losses, sadness, lost opportunities, shame, guilt?
What do you do with that pain? Stuff it down and repress it for another day. Vomit it out on anyone who comes near?
Pain can be overwhelming, like a miry bog or a deep dark well. You see no dawn, not even a tiny flickering glow.
Where are you in emotional pain? What do you carry that you rather not?
Memories, losses, sadness, lost opportunities, shame, guilt?
What do you do with that pain? Stuff it down and repress it for another day. Vomit it out on anyone who comes near?
Pain can be overwhelming, like a miry bog or a deep dark well. You see no dawn, not even a tiny flickering glow.
Hope comes and goes, you see no future expect for more of the same.
How do you keep on going?
1. Realise your not alone.
How do you keep on going?
1. Realise your not alone.
On dark roads we long for company. David, in Psalm 23, reminds himself that God is with him, he has company, soothing and reassuring company.
2. Persevere
It's hard to get through the crap of pain, but you have no idea of what God has for you down the road. You just need to hang in there and persevere.
Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. b Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me. Psalm 23:4 (Jerusalem Bible)
The writer of Lamentations, a book full of emotional pain, writes this.
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:19-24
2. Persevere
It's hard to get through the crap of pain, but you have no idea of what God has for you down the road. You just need to hang in there and persevere.
3. Gather people around you that believe in the dawn. Find people who may well have been there and done that. They may well have travelled through similar dark places. I recall the words of the Servant Song.
I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
Speak the peace you long to hear.4. Beware of people that want to apply a 'quick fix' spiritual band aid to your pain.
I have seen it too many times now. People looking for the magic trick of a quick and cost free solution to their pain, and people who believe they have that cure.
'Just have more faith'; 'Just follow this formula and program'. When the prayers don’t get answered and the pain still hurts, questions are raised about whether God is love, if there is hope, and self guilt becomes another burden to carry.
‘God’ words, ‘destiny’ words and ‘awesome’ clichés will not provide the ‘how to’s' needed to heal a ruined life. Hype and rhetoric grow pale in the face of real pain." David Riddell5. Give thanks for the little things.
Write down any little encouragements you might have. I use an encouragement journal where I keep notes, photos, little things people have said that are encouraging to the soul. It can be a refreshing watering hole to drink from as you journey through the dark places.
Some quotes to consider
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Barry Pearman
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Some quotes to consider
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Kahlil Gibran (Tweet it)
Emotional pain results when life's challenges go beyond the answers we have available. Dig deeper for more wisdom, or go on hurting. David Riddell (Tweet it)
The degree to which a person only hears what they want to hear indicates the degree of emotional pain they are in. People in pain can't hear you. David Riddell (Tweet it)
Pain removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul-C S Lewis (Tweet it)
Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C.S. Lewis (Tweet it)
Our misery drives us not to seek God, but to seek to feel better; not to please Him, but to use Him. Larry Crabb (Tweet it)
God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain. C.S. Lewis (Tweet it)How do you handle Emotional Pain?
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Barry Pearman
Photo Credit: .craig via Compfight cc
