By Harry Pappas
I don’t know what your struggle is but I know you have one. No matter how one appears, everyone has a dark side, such as shame, loneliness, regret, hardship or heartbreak. Therefore, none of us are strangers to the pain of struggle.
If you are in the midst of a major setback and are discouraged and about to give up, turn this up! At the risk of appearing like the Dalai Lama or Mother Teresa in word or deed, I put forth that suffering is an essential part of life, and is neither good nor bad. Our response to adversity is paramount; it will decide if we will be a victor or a victim.
Distress causes far too many folks to lose hope, become incredibly fearful and question God. It’s easy to get frustrated, discouraged and bewildered when the messenger of misery pays us a visit, but wallowing in our tears and asking, “Why me?” is not a recipe for progress.
I suggest that evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers was spot on when he said, “No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity.” When we remove ourselves from this worldly sorrow (self-pity) and believe that sometimes it takes the worst things done to us to bring out the best in us, the magic appears.
I hope the following words offer a fresh supply of motivation, inspiration and hope for those going through a life storm. I argue that our biggest roadblocks to healing our pain is our lack of faith.
Faith is everything! Faith believes healing will happen when there are no signs that it will happen. Faith says, “I trust even though I don’t understand.”
I do not profess any special wisdom about why terrible things happen to people, but I have unwavering and steadfast conviction that there are divine reasons for our pain.
Therefore, I consider struggles a beautiful thing and urge all of us to carry our black-and-blues proudly. Isn’t part of the excitement of overcoming our hardships to look back at all the obstacles that we overcame and the pain we endured?
Maybe these words from an old Amy Grant song, “Life is hard . . . and it might not get easier,” are true, but so what? Those of us with strong faith know greatness is on the other side of the pain, and we have faith and trust that we will rise out of the ashes because we were born warriors! We view setbacks as a classroom where we deepen our faith and build our character while becoming more humble, more compassionate and more patient. There is little doubt that if we truly believe that our pain has purpose and we are determined not to just “go” through our hardship but to “grow” through it, we will have a remarkable testimony to share that underscores the power of faith and trust. The fruit from our testimony will put the hunger and passion in our soul to help others through his or her emotional pain! So, please don’t ever tap out to pain. Pain is our friend. We must embrace the darkness! I believe our healing begins on our knees where we let go and let God! When we feed our faith, our fear will starve. Our struggle is real, but so is the God that will deliver us!
Harry Pappas Jr. CFP®
Managing Director-Investments
Master of Science Degree Personal Financial Planning
Certified Estate & Trust Specialist ™
Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™
Pappas Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors
818 North Highway A1A, Ste. 200
Ponte Vedra, Florida 32082
904-273-7955
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