Pain, Season of PAUSE, Freedom & Advancement!!!!

Today, I attended church and the service was amazing. The atmosphere was uplifting and I truly felt the presence of the holy spirit throughout the entire service. As I listened to the message, the 31 day challenge continuously crossed my mind. I sat thinking, "Okay God what flaws are stopping us from getting closer"? Then the pastor said something that I hadn't really thought about. He stated that after we experience pain, we must go through a season of "PAUSE" before me we move on to advancement. In my notebook, I wrote the words.... PAIN, HEALING, ADVANCEMENT, in bold letters. In that moment I realized that I was allowing past pain, hurt, anger, and trials prevent me from advancing. 

Many of us have experienced some type of pain that we carry around each day. We allow the "luggages of pain, misery, and bitterness" prevent us from growing. We don't enter the season of pause because we don't want to release the baggage. We don't realize that holding on to the baggage does not allow healing. We heal during the season of pause, but if we never let go we can never heal and enter new stages in our lives. After hearing this from the pastor, I realized that I am the cause of some old wounds not healing. I would rather hold on to past hurt than to give the hurt and pain to God. 

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our cares on God and he will carry them for us. When we experience pain, trials, and troubling situations, we should give it over to God. What good comes out of carrying around old hurt and pain into our future. We should not allows our scars and battle wounds of yesterday affect our progress and happiness today. God makes it easy for us. He says give me your pain, hurt, and troubles. He doesn't want us to be tied down with it. He wants us to move forward. 

So, when we move forward, we don't and should not automatically go to a season of advancement. Okay, I know this may sound weird. Think about it. If we go from a season of pain directly into a season of advancement without healing, we will ruin it. A season of PAUSE allows time for healing. Healing means that we will get stronger, wiser, happier, and most importantly closer to God. For example, a runner sprint towards the finish line and finishes first. As the crowd goes wild, the runner stops to take a few breaths. She makes her way to the podium to claim her award, but first she takes a couple breaths. Just like that runner we need to take some time to catch some fresh air before claiming our AWARDS.