God's currency

this past weekend, our pastor said something that has echoed in my head all week;

"The world's currency is pleasure. God's currency is pain."
Mike Minter

when he said it i physically felt like i'd been hit in the stomach. it's true. so true. but i don't want it to be true. we try most of our lives to avoid pain. we protect our kids from pain. we tell them how to escape pain.

and yet...

pain is how God gets our attention. pain is where we run to Him and realize we can't do it. pain is where we grow. He works in the pain.

{and His power is never more evident to me than when i'm watching the waves swelling and pounding on the sand. even amidst all the pain of this world, He is greater than all of it. and He will hold us through it.}