Below the Surface of Pain

“All the maps tell us that on the path to authentic selfhood, we must remain for a time in the dark night of the soul, in the winter of our discontent, until we reach the very bottom of despair. Only then do we discover that the seeds of renewal are blindly pushing their way up...” –Sam Keene (Fire in the Belly, p. 147)

We are quick to want out of periods of time when we are suffering. It’s natural to try to escape to comfort instead of linger in pain.  But it is in the valley where the flowers grow. When we get to the end of ourselves, when we fully grieve a loss, when we abandon all to God because we don’t have the strength to make it all better, that’s where the deep roots form and growth can begin.  No denial. No escape. Just moving through the pain to strength, making you even more resilient and full of faith and hope for the next dark time that will inevitably come.