Petals in Pain

Petals in Pain
Pain. The very thought causes one to shudder. Especially if you have experienced a significant amount or intensity of it. In our world there are so many varieties of pain...flashing like bolts of lightening in a sudden storm.Multiple jagged bolts coarsing through the sky along with intense crashing thunder causes fear within the beholder and wonder at where the next devastating strike might hit? Will it be me, my children, grandchildren, parent, friends, etc? What will the results be? Will the damage be minor or bring complete destruction? Over the course of my life I have experienced several types of pain.My first memory of physical pain was at age 5 when I fell off the front porch of our home and onto an old rusted toy truck of my brother's below. That was 45 years ago and today, I still bear three ugly scars from that fall . There have also been many other pains in my life. Death, disease, despair, divorce, abuse, betrayal, children straying, rejection, abandonment, financial loss,...and the list goes on.Your list of pain may be similar. It doesn't matter how long or short...or what might have caused deeper pain at one time than another...or whether you should be over it by now.Pain is real. It is deeply felt, affecting our lives and those around us and it takes a process of divine healing and recovery.A few weeks ago I woke and sat up in bed looking down at my left leg. I was feeling sad and clearly noticed those three scars and I drew across the pattern of them with my finger. I asked God..."Why did you allow these ugly scars to remain?" Then I wept. We don't always have the answers to life's questions, but know this...it is ok with God if we ask why. His son did!While on the cross while Jesus felt most abandoned and alone. Was it true He would have to bear inconceivable pain by the very one whom he would never have dreamed would turn his back on Him? Jesus cried out..."Father, ...why?...As I looked at my scars I thought of His. I thought about the process of healing from many things in my life. I thought about how God allows reminders of pain, Note: The Healer never concealed his own scars from the cost of the cross and neither has he hidden ours...why? So that we can see that He has been in the process of healing us all along.