Laying in the bed yesterday with a migraine the size of Texas, an image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns popped into my head. I was almost bought to tears thinking of what He endured on the cross for you and for me. My migraine had totally debilitated me to the bed, curled up in fetal position from the pain. I could only imagine the pain Jesus experienced already being in pain and then to have thorns digging into His cranium. Wow, I thought to myself. He did that for me? What He must have been feeling and thinking I can’t truthfully conjure with my human mind.

He came here with a purpose to fulfill and He suffered to bring it to past. Two things came to mind for me as I thought about this. One. He didn’t go through that kind of suffering for me to live a stagnant, unfulfilled life. Two. I should expect to encounter some valleys and pain in trying to reach my purpose. If Jesus went through what He did, what makes me think that my life will be without wrinkle, delays or hardship?

After the images of His pain passed from my mind I gained a new outlook on how to live. Surly God wants me to live well. Yes, He saved my soul but the blessing of the cross is not only for me to be secured in my afterlife. I should also be living the here and now in an exponential way. Not to would be disgracing the sacrifice that He made for me to live now and to live more abundantly.

As women lots of time we make the mistake of tallying up everything we’ve done wrong. We want to be perfect mothers, perfect wives, fabulous daughters, 5 star chefs, counselors, doctors, comforters, tutors, pastors, top models, life coaches and so on and so on. Shoot from time to time I even think about things I did as a teen and wish to turn back the hands of time and do it right and have this perfect ideal life. No blemishes. Unfortunately, this is unattainable. Well I’ll say fortunately, because that’s just too much pressure. We need to let it go.

The beauty in the story of the cross is Redemption. It was all for us to have second, third, fifth, and twentieth chances to leave our past circumstances, mindsets, mistakes and mishaps behind us and live better now. And most times living better means accepting that we will never be perfect and leaving our weaknesses to God while we focus on building our strengths. Truthfully, some things we suffer through will have nothing to do with us. We suffer for other people. The pain you went through can create a ministry of healing for others who have experienced that same thing. Suffered for purpose. You have suffered for a purpose my dear and on the other side is a life of light and glory that will bring recompense to others who have lost their way.