posts about pain have been popping up on my blogroll recently,

“Pain is not a mistake” via Momastery

“No time, worn out, feeling stuck” via A Blog About Love

and I’ve been thinking about what it means to face and endure pain.  I’m not talking about masochism, but that everyday, unavoidable–sometimes even unbearable-feeling–pain and suffering.  Trusting God often leads into pain, but I’ve also found that pain is the lead into growth.  It feels a little silly to write about “pain” in a first-world air-conditioned room, but I’ve also found that first-world people suffer a lot of pain precisely because our lives are so comfortable and (relatively) carefree.  Our minds and spirits and souls get all cloudy because it’s hard to see and trust God with all this soporific comfort pushing in on every side.

Recently, I’ve been reading a book that has a very non-modern (but very helpful, I think) take on pain:

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

and another book that deals with the pain of God’s silence:

Still by Lauren Winner