Growing Pains

Today’s Post Written By: Rae Lynn DeAngelisWhen our son was little, he used to get horrible growing pains in his legs. He would often wake up in the middle of the night crying out in extreme pain. My husband and I would hurry into his room, but there wasn’t a whole lot we could do to ease his pain. We held him close and massaged his legs until the ibuprofen kicked-in, but that was about it.As a parent, I hated watching him suffer; it was such a helpless feeling. The pediatrician explained the reason for his growing pains. His bones were growing faster than his tendons, so the strain caused him to experience pain and discomfort. There was no real cure. It was just part of the growth process.I wish I could say that growing pains only happen with children, but the truth of the matter is adults experience growing pains too, especially during times of spiritual and emotional growth.We experience growing pains when we step out of our comfort zone or face a confrontational situation with someone. We experience growing pains when we have to stand by and watch our loved ones suffer or when we suffer ourselves because we messed up and must now suffer the consequences of our actions. We experience growing pains when we strive to resolve conflict in our lives…. and the list goes on.Sometime we even experience growing pains through positive events in our life such as being newly married, the birth of a child, working a new job, or reaching a growth spurt in our relationship with God.Much like my son’s growing pains, these experiences stretch us beyond the limit of what we could previously tolerate. God watches us go through these growth spurts, and although He feels great compassion for our discomfort and pain, He knows it’s simply part of the growth process. He also understands that our pain is temporary and will subside with time.When the pain is more than we can bear, and we feel stretched beyond our limit, we need to cry out to God. Our heavenly Father will wrap His loving arms around us until the pain begins to fade.And the God of all grace