Growing Pains

Tonight I was putting my son, who is 6 years old, to bed.  He told me that he had a pain in his leg.  He said, "Mommy, I have a growing pain".  Since I always pray for him before he goes to sleep, I immediately stepped in with authority and faith and began to ask Jesus to take the pain away.  When I was done praying, I kissed him and started to tuck him in.  My beautiful boy, full of wisdom, looks at me and says:

"Mommy, please don't pray for my growing pain to go away.  If you ask Jesus to take the pain away, that means I won't grow".

Oh, out of the mouths of babes!  But in that moment, the Lord began to gently speak to me.  Life hurts sometimes.  There will be pain and disappointment.  There will be times when we feel like we cannot go on, that to have to live through the pain would be unbearable.  But sometimes growth only comes when we allow ourselves to walk through the pain. I am not saying that we should not go after physical healing. But I feel the Lord clearly spoke to me about our journey in general.  Yes, there are times when we must take the authority we have been given in Christ and pray the pain away.  But I also believe there are other times when we simply must embrace our pain, asking the Lord to help us to endure it.  In those times, we grow and we become stronger.  We walk away from those seasons in our life with greater faith and strength for the next leg of our journey.

I will continue to pray and ask the Lord to take away my children's growing pains.  What mother would put her child to bed with pain and ask the Lord to allow them to endure it?  But there will be other times when my children will have to walk through their pain, and in those times, I will surrender them back to the Lord, trusting Him, and asking Him to help them to walk through it. They will be stronger because of it.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)