Before becoming an ordained minister, I worked as a Childbirth Educator in two hospitals, and I owned my own company called Expectations. I had the privilege of being in hundreds of deliveries.

I remember like it was yesterday, one delivery where I was assisting a young woman who was in labour. What was so memorable about this delivery was how very difficult it was. This young woman literally had every medical intervention under the sun. She had a medication that slowed down her labour, so she was put on a medication that sped her labour up. The contractions then came fast and furious, so she had an epidural. When it was time to push, she had an episiotomy and vacuum extractor but that didn’t move the baby, so forceps were then used. She had every medical intervention available. I remember weeping for all that she was enduring and yet, after the precious life was delivered and put on her chest, she looked at her newborn, looked at me and said, “Mona, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.” I will never forget that moment. Pain with a purpose.

I have a friend who runs marathons… on purpose…with a purpose! Yes, it is painful but she would attest that the payoff, the satisfaction, the fulfillment, the sense of accomplishment — “is worth the pain”.

Or what about my friend who recently got a tattoo??

People can, and will, endure a lot of pain if there is a purpose. But what if we can’t see the purpose of our pain?

Today we may not be facing childbirth or running a marathon or getting a tattoo but we may be experiencing the pain of the unknown; the pain of the loss of a loved one or broken relationship; or the pain of being isolated, alone and afraid during this uncertain time.

And we might ask, what is the purpose of what I am going through?

Sometimes it’s hard to remember, especially in the midst of a painful time that perhaps there is a purpose. We just can see it yet. God may be doing something in you before God does something through you.

I love what the apostle Paul said in Romans 8:28, one of the most quoted verses in the Bible and with good reason. He says,

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God works in all things — everything — whatever you're going through in this season, God works in all things for the good, according to God's purpose, not according to your pain.

Let’s not just look at life from a perspective of pain, but see our pain through a perspective of purpose, because that difficult thing that you're going through right now… God is in it, God is with you and we know that in all things our good God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Join us this Sunday, on-line or in-person for Part two of our new sermon series, There’s a Reason.