purpose in the pain
I am somewhere between having a baby tomorrow and having a baby in 2 weeks-it’s unpredictable at this point but I can’t wait to meet my baby boy!
A few weeks ago, I had a vision from God of birthing my baby. In the vision, as I saw my baby come out of me, I felt my entire spine light up with what felt like fire. It shocked me at first…I was about to be sound asleep but I was suddenly hit with the most vivid & realistic vision of birthing this baby. And to be honest, because we’re having a homebirth, I’ve had to do a lot of mental and spiritual prep. This vision didn’t calm me at first; it sparked fear. But it was the kind of fear that pushed me to dig deeper and ask, “What is it about pain in labor that makes us so afraid?”
And this ONE question reminded me of a time period back in 2023 when I was going through a tumultuous time period in my life— my typical nature at the time would have been to run or numb my pain. Avoiding it seemed easier than confronting it until God taught me how purposeful pain is to our journeys.
Here’s what I learned back then that is relevant NOW:
Pain in the medical field is full of information…it's a signal that something beneath the surface needs attention. Your body responds to pain to protect you, to alert you, and to move you toward healing. Emotional pain works the same way. It isn’t random, and it isn’t pointless. It’s your heart signaling, “something deeper needs care.”
And when we stop ignoring those signals and actually sit with them, pain becomes more than just an alert: it becomes a teacher. This is where maturity is formed. Because the very act of allowing yourself to feel what hurts builds endurance. It softens you with empathy. It transforms you into someone who doesn’t just survive pain but grows through it.
We often want to hide pain, mask it, or numb it because we don’t want to face what those signals are pointing to. But when we honor the pain instead of avoiding it, the signal leads to strength. Information leads to transformation.
Sometimes we rush the process of healing because we don’t want to feel anything hard.
But God isn’t trying to get us through something fast…
He’s trying to show us something in it.
These are 5 ways we mishandle pain without realizing it…
1. We ignore it.
2. We blame people for it.
3. We pretend we’re okay.
4. We use Scripture to silence our feelings.
5. We lose hope.
But pain isn’t meant to be hidden. It’s meant to be handled with God.
So as I’ve been sitting with this upcoming birth, God brought all of this full circle for me (and I believe it’s for the sake of sharing it with you, too)
The fear I felt in that vision wasn’t really about labor…it was about the sensation of pain. The unknown. The vulnerability. The loss of control. It was the same fear that used to make me run from emotional pain years ago. The same fear that told me pain was dangerous instead of purposeful.
Pain is uncomfortable…but it is never wasted.
And just like I’m preparing to birth this baby boy into the world, I believe God is preparing to birth something in you too. Maybe something in your life feels intense or stretching or unfamiliar or maybe you’ve been trying to numb it, escape it + pray it away.. but if you lean into the process.. you will surely see that there’s purpose in it.
