Did you get these when you were young too?? I can remember having growing pains throughout my childhood, but specifically in middle school. My legs used to ache and hurt. I would complain to my mom about it, and she would just tell me that it’s only growing pains! ONLY growing pains?! My goodness they would hurt! It was SO painful, but my mom would remind me that the growing pains are just a sign that I was growing (and I liked the idea of that!). I was torn between wanting to grow tall and wanting my legs to stop hurting! I learned that if my body was going to grow, it was going to be a little painful!
Sometimes our situations in life can feel the same way. We experience emotional/spiritual pain and hurt. This may look like losing a job, changes in family dynamics, conflict, broken relationships, separation, etc. It could be anything! For me, my emotional growing pains usually revolved around change. When I moved from Alabama to Arizona, my oh my that hurt! It was painful to have to leave my family, my friends, the culture, and everything I had known and was comfortable with. Then, God called me to move to California for college! Again, that was SO SO painful. I had to leave my immediate family, live somewhere I had never lived before, and endure the transition into adulthood! Now, I’m back at home, experiencing the pain of being in quarantine!
Change is painful. Life circumstances are painful. Maybe the quarantine has been painful for you, too. Whatever it is, this pain hurts. You’re allowed to feel the way you do, but be encouraged because these are only growing pains.
James 1:2-4 tells us to “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” And Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Friend, if you are experiencing pain, I hope you can find peace and rest in knowing that there is an end in sight, this is how you grow, and there is joy and hope waiting for you in Jesus! Sometimes we have to experience the growing pains in order to experience the growth. It’s kind of like a flower that can’t bloom until it rains.
Be encouraged! God is writing your story, and you are watching it unfold. It hurts, don’t get me wrong! But I promise you it’s worth it (:
You are loved <3