In Part 1 of the Hope in Struggle Podcast episode: Pain Has Purpose with Jessica Vaughn, we talked about her past and how she started to come to know the Lord. In the second part of this interview, Jessica talks about facing that past in order to make room for healing and a vibrant relationship with Christ.

Realizing we need Christ and surrendering to Him does not mean that all our problems will go away instantly. It means that we have someone walking through the darkness with us as we begin the real work of facing our demons. Once we accept Christ, we are new. We have to forgive others, but we also have to forgive ourselves. We have to face the bad emotions. We have to allow ourselves the time to understand where those feelings are coming from and why. What is the pain that those feelings are rooted in?

Jessica and I both journal. When Jessica starts to feel things like anger or jealousy she writes it out. She sits with it to find out where it is coming from and why. She walks through the pain so that it can become part of her purpose.  Allowing Jesus into the process of dealing with our emotions allows us to keep our feelings in check and prevents those emotions from ending up where they don’t belong.

It’s so easy as Christians to try to throw a Band-Aid on our problems. These Band-Aids come in the form of platitudes like “just trust in God.” But you know what? Even though Jesus knew Lazarus would live again he still wept when Lazarus died. Our feelings are not meant to be shoved down or ignored. They are meant to be faced with the help of the Lord.

I encourage you to check out Jessica’s books, A Worthy Wife and Know Your Worth to read more about Jessica’s journey and how she learned to conquer her past in order to find a powerful future and be sure to listen to PART TWO of our chat here: Hope in Struggle Podcast: Pain Has a Purpose Part 2 with Jessica Vaughn.