The Wound That Teaches

This is one of the most courageous prayers in the Bible — acknowledging that a season of humbling and pain brought learning that no easy season ever could.

We're not saying that God causes pain in order to teach us. But we are saying that God is able to use any season — even the hardest ones — to work in us something that could not have come any other way.

The patience you never would have developed if everything had been easy. The empathy that only comes from having suffered. The faith that was tested and survived. The dependence on God that was born the moment you realized you couldn't make it on your own.

You don't have to be thankful for the pain. But in time, you can be thankful for what God did through it. That is one of the deepest works of restoration: turning what destroyed into something that builds.