You know...the funny thing about pain...it only leaves...when we’re willing to walk away from it...

Sometimes people come into our lives to serve some sort of purpose, teach us a lesson or help us figure out who we are or who we want to become. We never know who these people may be but we know the very moment that they will affect our life in some profound way. There may also be things that happen to us that may seem horrible, painful and unfair. But without overcoming these obstacles, we will never realize our potential, our strength, our willpower or the true beauty of our heart. We spend so much time trying to understand life, by what we see, hear or experience. It should be our faith that compels us to believe that everything happens for a reason, even when we cannot understand. To believe means having hope and eliminates the need to understand.

The successes and downfalls that we experience and have experienced can create who we are, and the bad experiences can be learned from. Yes, we may have been hurt or betrayed or someone may have broken our heart, but with the grace of God, we must forgive. Unfortunately, these things help us learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom we open our heart to. But imagine, how free we’d feel if we could just forgive and let go of the pain.

It is in this moment, that we have a choice to either lie down and die inside or stand strong and tall and yell out ... I AM NOT A VICTIM! Yes, we may have been hurt, but to stay in that victim mode, makes pain the winner. To stay the victim keeps us from growing, healing, learning. It says that the pain is stronger than we are. That it’s worth more than we are. What happened to us was outside our control, why should we hold any guilt or shame. It was done to us not by us. Sometimes, after the fact, what we do to ourselves is often times worse than what was done to us.

Yes, in some cases, our life may never be what it was. Our hopes, dreams, our very being may have changed. Yet, if we choose to stay the victim, we lose. We lose all that we are now and all that we will ever be, all that we are meant to be. Yes, sometimes it is hard to stay here with all the memories but we must let go. Life will give us roadblocks all of the time, so don’t just sit there and wait, find another way around. At the end of the day, we are where we are, because that’s where we’ve allowed ourselves to go. And the funny thing about pain, it only leaves, when we’re willing to walk away from it.