THIS WILL ONLY HURT A LITTLE...

Yesterday I had my yearly check up at the doctors. I found the medical center hard to navigate for the first time, but once I found the office and filled out all of the paperwork, it was not so bad. Everything went smoothly with the appointment until the very end when I was directed to the lab to get blood work done. I was quickly reacquainted with my long time fear of needles leading back to when I was a child and a needle broke off in my arm during a checkup.

I found myself wanting to leave the room as the nurse was getting everything together. I got to thinking on the way home about how often we run from pain. I'm talking about the necessary kinds of pain. The tough times that come in life so that we can grow through them.

God reminds us time and time again in His word, that tough times come, some serve the purpose of refining us and helping us grow to be who God created us to be. It's hard to explain all of the tough times that can come in life and it is even harder to try to rationalize them to someone who is going through them. However, I am certain that one day when my eyes are open much wider to God's purpose for my life that I will see how each circumstance, the good, bad and ugly ones have helped to equip me for what only God knew was in store.