Most of us are so afraid to encounter hardship, loss, or disappointment that we are blinded to the positive spiritual and emotional benefits that can be derived from the process of working through our inner struggle, fear, and frustration. Our ‘flesh man’ will push us to fight with those who bring us grief, or to run away and hide from the inner issues driving our ill feelings. But our maturing ‘spiritual man’ understands the truth of not needing to be afraid or run away from our feelings of grief and sorrow. In fact, feeling and working through our pain with Jesus can be an opening used to teach us how to walk in union with Him more closely, while experiencing elevated joy and heart healing – instead of being defeated by the pain! This is a spiritual paradox and brings hope to many who suffer! We will all pass through the fire and the flood, but they will not overtake us, but purify and heal us, as we cast our cares on Him and yield to the Holy Spirit! The Lord will bring us out and promote us to a higher spiritual level than we were before- saturated with His goodness, full of His praises and singing joyful songs!
When we go through difficulty, we often tend to grit our teeth and try to hold ourselves together, as we continue in the struggle. Many of us have been taught that this is the way of being spiritually strong. But when we hold in and squelch the emotions of our wounded hearts that need to be expressed to God, life begins to feel too hard. In this hard place, Jesus calls us to allow the pain to drive us deep into Him. In the depths of Christ love- He leads us down the “trail of tears”, His open arms and heart calling us to come into this healing safe place. Crying is one of the ways we let out the hardness in our hurting hearts. He is close, loving us unconditionally, listening to our words and feeling our pain, as we release our emotions and tears to Him. Sometimes a visit to this trail will be short, but there will be other times it will take longer, and the visits will be more frequent. But we need not be afraid of this trail, because in the Presence of our loving Lord Jesus, we are safe to feel, cry, and release all stages of our grief. Subsequently there will be an emotional and spiritual trade off-we give the Lord the hardness of our hurting hearts-He gives us the replacement of His stability, peace, and joy unspeakable-full of His glory and healing Presence- until each of us will sing for joy because God did not close his heart when we cried to Him ! Psalm 84 proclaims, “How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord; within their hearts are the highways of holiness! Even when their path winds through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled from the rain of spiritual outpouring. They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward. What euphoria and joy fills those who forever trust in you!”
“They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing” (Psalm 126:5).
