Dealing with pain

Pain and suffering are indeed part of life, but it’s not true that pain is something we just have to put up with. There are so many true stories about people who have gone through pain and suffering, learned from it, adapted to it, and found the courage to help others because of what they’ve learned and how they’ve changed.

Evolution wouldn’t need to take place if God’s creatures weren’t constantly tasked with finding new solutions to new problems that are causing pain. Loss of food sources causes pain and demands adaptation. Loss of historical environments causes pain and demands adaptation. Loss of group/tribe/clan family members causes pain and demands adaptation. In some ways, it could be argued that the very essence of evolution is life’s response to the pain we don’t like but have to cope with nonetheless.

Human beings are at their best when they’re challenging themselves to take what they’ve learned from their painful experiences and bring change, learning, and healing into the world – with God’s ongoing guidance, of course. This is, in my view, the essence of Jesus’ teachings.

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