The "Other" side of Pain...........

When it comes to Physical Pain, I can chant all the "aches, hurts" to anybody listening, making me seem like a frustrated Expert!  Heh Husband has told me me"Martha-I know about the Burning Pain, seems its mentioned by you more than I can recall-but heh, its okay-just keep telling me about it!"  Yep-this is my second to think-"might be a good idea if I just kept quiet about this Pain for a bit."

But there is another Side of Pain we don't speak of as often-the aching of a heart, broken by Painful moments in life, the Ache has a way of getting stuffed deep inside-because it hurts too much to let go and allow it to bubble up for all to see.  I can attest to this Side of Pain- and face it each day as I ask God to watch over our Son.  I hear other parents talk of breaks in their family and my head is hung low-realizing this type of Hurt is everywhere.

Today I came face to face with a Woman going through the Other Side of Pain-I was waiting patiently as Heh Husband finally chose a new cellphone and was struggling to learn a five minute lesson on how to operate the phone-which turned into thirty minutes.  For some reason this Woman caught my attention, I noticed how she would glance back and forth as we both joked about the New Phone-it seemed as if she was hanging on our moments of laughter.  She looked flawless on the outside, but it seemed like a ocean of Cracks filled her heart.  Gently she started talking, as she heard the town we live in and told us she had lived nearby this area many years ago.  Just as quickly, the words stopped, she walked around-I could see all the signs-a woman holding on for dear life to Stuff the Pain down-hoping she would not fall apart in front of us.

In this short moment of time, she felt strong enough to share a piece of her heart-her second marriage was failing as she spoke about the difficulty in trying to Blend two families together.  Obviously things had reached a point of no return, she moved out and had recently purchased a home!  I watched as she drew a breath, almost shocked at sharing this with two strangers, and the Pain seemed to weigh heavy!  Time was closing fast as we were getting ready to leave and I knew "Martha-say something to this woman-she needs to know somebody cares."   I quickly stood beside her, as she turned and gently looked my way.

My words were spoken with care "Please realize you are not alone.  I am so sorry you have to go through this Pain!"  We were two women-looking into the hearts of each other-as she struggled for words, but too much Pain was in the way as I could see tears were ready to flow down her face.  I knew there was one more thing to say " I will say a prayer for you, I promise to do that!"  She stood silent, watching us
walk away-as the "Other Side of Pain" was beside her.  My heart ached for her.

We all suffer that Other Pain throughout our lives-but if we reach out to one another and show the face of caring and love-something tells me the Load of Pain gets a bit lighter-even if it is for a few minutes.

God bless. Martha