What we focus on expands…

Wednesday Word

In the midst of all the pain, a light of truth shown so brightly that it paused the
darkness named sorrow and suffering, and suddenly clarity came, out of nowhere,
rendering her yet again humbled.

Thanks for joining us for Wednesday’s Word with Kim-Evinda and Trench Classes
United. Have you ever been so focused on what someone has done to hurt you that
you had no idea you had a part in it? Today’s blog is for such a circumstance as this,
and reveals something so freeing, we hope you will try it.

To step out of our own pain and pray for understanding is one of the hardest, but
most rewarding spiritual exercises I have ever experienced...and continue to
experience.

How do we step out of our own pain? The simple answer: Change our focus, and for
many of us, that’s not so easy, at least for me it’s not. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to lean
not on our own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will
direct your path. There seems to be so many opportunities to apply this instruction
lately, but let me share one from not too long ago:

I remember spending an entire night praying with a heart that cried out for help,
asking my Heavenly Father to hold me and to reveal my part in a very painful
situation. I had been so immersed in and blinded by my own pain, I just knew I had
to do something different. So instead of sitting in my pain, focusing on my right to be
mad, hurt, and angry, I changed my focus. I didn’t ask Him to change the other
person; I begged Him to reveal my part.

Now, this requires that we sit in that pain, if you will, and not run from it, as many of
us are tempted to do. Society teaches us that we shouldn’t feel pain; we should only
do what makes us happy. Why is that false? Because pain and sorrow can bring
understanding, but only if we change our focus to the One whose plan is to help us,
lift us up and out of ourselves that we may learn from the pain. Let me say this: God
wastes NOTHING, and certainly not any pain or sorrow.

In other words, sometimes it takes pain to learn a lesson, to discover more about
ourselves, to cut away that which needs to go that we may become more like our Creator.
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My heart is yet again soothed to know He is with me in it all; He’s highly invested in
expanding my character as I expand my focus towards Him. As I let Him change me,
the pain diminishes and turns into understanding…and my heart smiles again.
May we keep our eyes on The One Who knows all things and works all things
together for His glory and our eventual good.
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Love,
Kim-Evinda