Purpose in the Pain

Happy Monday! 

As some of you may know, on the 16th of October my squad and I took a 9 hour road trip downtown New Orleans, Louisiana to work with Samaritan’s Purse on hurricane Ida relief. Hurricane Ida made landfall on August 26th of this year and left many people in the New Orleans with massive roof damage leading to huge mold issues. Now, over two months later there are still hundreds of people who need help getting the mold removed from their homes so that they can safely live there again. That is where Samaritan’s Purse (SP) comes in! Samaritan’s Purse provides free help with the getting the homes contractor ready to those who need it and we got to be apart of that! The jobs ranged from a small roof tarping jobs to gutting an entire home that was overcome by mold. Many of the homeowners had no desire or the finances to have their house remodeled so watching walls be torn down because of mold infestation was extremely hard for them to watch. Yet, most of them held such a positive perspective and trust that God would provide for them. I loved getting to know the homeowners and hear their stories! By the time we left the each house almost every homeowner was tearing up with gratitude for the help we had been able to give. 

For me personally, the Lord had something very specific he wanted to show me throughout these two weeks. For those of you who don’t know much about my story, I have struggled with chronic migraines and headaches for 13 years of my life. As you could imagine, there have been many days where the pain I felt was too much to push through and I end up in bed sleeping and feeling defeated. 

During the first week at Samaritan’s Purse I got my first migraine while on the race and had to take a day off of ministry to rest and recover. Thankfully, the rest of the first week I was headache free!

Unfortunately, the feeling decent didn’t last too long. 

Week two came and brought with it daily headaches that I couldn’t seem to get to go away. Thursday morning, as we arrived at our job site I hit a wall of pain that I could no longer work through. I was so frustrated in that moment. Why is this happening to me? Why can’t I get it to go away? I cried out to God not knowing why for a second time at Samaritan’s Purse I was being taken out of ministry because of a headache. As I sat there in the van, I asked the Lord if he could just give me one day where I felt really good and healthy while in Louisiana. 

A few minutes later, my sweet team leader, came to check on me. She could see the pain and frustration I was feeling and listened as I shared that pain with her. I remember her asking me that if even one person is impacted by what I am going through, would that make it worth it? My immediate reaction was yes, but this question really made me think. What would it look like to walk through this with the hope that people can be impacted by what I am going through. 

In that moment, I made the decision to say yes Lord, I will walk through this so that other people can be impacted. 

The following morning, when I woke up I felt the best I had felt all week! I was able to get out of bed and spend quality devotional time with the Lord and was energized and ready for a great day of ministry! Throughout the day there were so many little moments where God showed up and I saw his goodness so clearly.

That night, during share time, I felt like I needed to share all the Lord had done that day, but I was scared to open up about my headaches and migraines. Although after waiting and debating, I finally got up and shared just how God had showed up that day and testified of his goodness. I thought nothing of it after the fact, but God had something bigger planned. 

A few minutes later, I had two individuals come up to me and thank me for sharing. They shared how they were impacted by what I shared and encouraged how I continue to do ministry and missions work even when I have more obstacles to jump over to be able to do so. 

The following morning, two more people came up to me and shared similar sentiments. I just sat there with tears welling in my eyes as I saw the Lord use my story to impact other people and allow other people to see hope and a way to continue even when it is hard. 

Since sharing this story, the Lord has continued to use this testimony of his goodness in my life to impact other people. My simple yes, to fight sit in the pain even if just one person was impacted by my story turned into a story that has impacted so many and will continue to impact more people. 

I love the line in the song I Thank God by Maverick City Music where it says “the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy”. 

This line is so true and something that I had never thought about or seen play out before this moment, but through sharing what the Lord had done in my life I was able to see the impact that my testimony of God’s goodness had. Through sharing, the Lord gave others hope and strength to keep going even when it gets hard too! God showed me how important it is to continue to testify of his goodness in my life so that other people are encouraged in their faith too! 

All of that said, dear friend, there is purpose in your pain! Are you willing to go through what you are going through to be able to impact even just one person? Keep testifying of the Lord’s goodness and trust in the Lord to use your pain for his glory! 

Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Here is a quick recap video from Samaritan’s Purse! 

 https://youtu.be/OU2HPMjteno

Quick Update: 

My squad made it safely to Costa Rica! We will be here for the next two months and I am so excited to get to share what the Lord is doing here! My wifi access is very limited now that I am overseas, so blogs will be less consistent, but I will do my best to keep you all up to date!

Prayer Requests:

– No headaches for me! 

– For God to direct our steps each day as we go out into the community to serve!

With Love,

Kalyssa