Pain is Inevitable - Molly

But misery is optional.

I love this book. (Pain is Inevitable, Misery is Optional by Hyrum W. Smith)

In my quest to strengthen my faith, I first have to understand why I have had to experience so much pain. I have to learn to wrap my head around why pain is part of the process. And I have to accept that I will continue to have pain in my life. It is learning to have faith amidst my trials, have hope amidst my most hopeless moments and trusting in the Lord and his ultimate plan for me.


Sometimes bad things happen. Lots of times, those bad things happen to good people.

We lose loved ones, or marriages end (or never happen), jobs are lost, and we get hurt or hurt others.

Life is hard. It's unfair.

We can't understand or comprehend the why these things happen, but they do, and we can't stop them.
It's hard to see other people around us experience joy, happiness and success while we experience pain.
But pain is felt and experienced by everyone. And it all boils down to how we choose to deal with the pain.

When we let our fear be bigger than our faith or our suffering be greater than our hope, we are the ones who are truly miserable. We miss out on the beauty, the joy and the gifts the Lord has blessed us with.

Pain can be consuming. It can overshadow so many wonderful things.

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called children of God." - Orson F. Whitney

We can do something though.

We can move forward. Forward with faith. Forward with hope. Forward with a better understanding of just how to deal with it.

It never gets easy. It never stops hurting. But eventually, we stop hurting. Eventually, we are stronger and eventually, we learn to trust and hope again.

Eventually.

We have to let these bad things go. We have to forgive. "Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting. It means remembering, but it also means that remembering doesn't matter anymore." (Hyrum W. Smith)

When we realize that, we can stop punishing ourselves (and others, even those who have caused us the pain).

We can begin to let go and we can start to find peace.

Letting go doesn't mean it leaves us. Letting go means we have strengthened our faith. Letting go means we trust the Lord and the peace in our heart allows us to be close to Him.

Letting go means we choose to be happy. We choose to move forward, to smile, to recognize the blessings and to trust that everything will be alright.

Then, we are just a little bit stronger.
Then, we are a little bit more hopeful.

But we also are a lot more faithful.

for a few friends - who I think need to hear this as much as I do...