Pain, whether physical or emotional, is not the end of your story, but it does change her story, providing a context for your story to have deeper eternal value. Look at what the Holy Spirit said through the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16 – 18, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us (literally – “in us”) an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, as we keep looking at the things which are not seen, and not at the things which are seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Pain is like a wilderness that either causes you to wither away in anguish or to lean into your Beloved for sustenance. Pain has a tendency to blind us to the goodness of God, but if you can look beyond what your eyes can see and give thanks to the One who works all things after the counsel of His will, trusting in His eternal wisdom and kind intentions, then eternal realities begin to come into view to the eyes of your spirit.
Every wilderness has boundaries unless you go around in circles of “why.” Jesus said to Thomas in the upper room after Thomas touched the hands and the side of Jesus, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.” John 20:29.
Jesus told Mary, the sister of Lazarus, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40. The goodness of God is always there even if you can’t see it, and if you’ll just rejoice in Him one step at a time, trusting in His indwelling adequacy to do pain victoriously, then those who are standing in front of you will say “Who is this COMING UP out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved,” no longer carrying the relentless burden of pain but carrying an eternal weight of glory.