Sometimes, life feels like a roller coaster. Things move on so fast and it seems so hard to keep up. You have to think about so many things at once depending on what stage of life you are in. There’s family to think about, your career, your finances … I can go on and on. Since life is so fast-paced, people hardly have time to release their hurts. They get buried in the hustle and bustle of daily life instead.
How many times have you seen people with huge smiles on their faces only to find out that they are going through serious struggles? You could never have guessed from their countenance, right? That is why people are shocked when seemingly happy people decide to commit suicide. What you hear is, “But he was such a cheerful person.”
One ability we have as human beings is the ability to mask our pain. To be honest, our culture does not give us the freedom to express such emotions and then let’s add the fact that sharing your pain with people opens you up to the possibility of betrayal; it’s not so difficult to understand why people go around with buried pain. For some weeks now I have been weighed down by a particular issue. It started as something little but then it began to escalate, slowly and slowly until I broke down in tears yesterday. My heart was heavy and I couldn’t share that burden with anyone. It’s not that I don’t have friends but this was one pain that friends could not help with. Have you ever felt that kind of burden or pain? You want to share it but you don’t know how. And then even when you share it, it makes no difference; that burden is still there weighing down on your heart.
A lot of people don’t know how to deal with such heavy pain. They choose instead to pretend like all is rosy while they shed silent tears in the darkest hour of the night. They cry out hoping to reach out to someone who will understand but no one shows up. And when dawn breaks, they go through that same routine until one day, they break down. Can I tell you something? You can turn that pain over to one person. Want to know who this person is? It’s God. Don’t roll your eyes. It is only God who can bring you the comfort that you seek. There is a level of pain that you feel that only God can heal. He is the only one who can lift that burden. Have you tried releasing that pain to Him?
I cannot tell you how many times I have felt pain that I couldn’t speak about but when I spoke to God about them, I felt a release. My heart was healed of the pain. No, the pain didn’t go away immediately. It was a gradual process. It involved me encouraging myself in the Lord every day. I read scriptures that related to the pain I felt. I listened to messages that uplifted my spirit. I prayed. And then I had heart-to-heart conversations with God. It all began to add up at some point because I began to feel lighter. I just knew I was going to be fine. The buried pain was not going to overwhelm me anymore. I had found my way of escape. Soon enough, I didn’t need to pretend that I was happy. I was truly happy; inside-out.
If you are hurting and you feel there is no one you can talk to, please talk to God. Do not suffer in silence. Even when you have people you can talk to, you still need to talk to God. Also have people who can pray for you. You may not be able to share your pain with them but their prayers will uphold you. It will help you in those moments when you are just too weak to pray. God loves you so much and it hurts Him to see you in pain. Turn over that buried pain to Him. Choose to rejoice in the Lord and all that He has done for you. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. It always does. You just need to exercise a bit of patience.
About the Writer: Adedoyin Jaiyesimi is a Writer, Media Content Creator and Brand Manager. The various publications she has written for include Y! Magazine (now Y! Africa), Discovery, Pride Magazine Nigeria, Butterscotch magazine amongst others. She currently holds the position of Brand Communications Manager at Victor Adeyemi Ministries and she is also the founder of LRouge Media, an editorial and brand consultancy company which provides content writing and editing services for business websites, magazines and blogs. When she is not creating content, you can find her in church doing the work of her Father. She tweets @msdoyeen and blogs at
http://adedoyinjaiyesimi.wordpress.com/
