When Pain Becomes the Platform: Letting God Use What Broke You

There’s a kind of pain that doesn’t just hurt, it changes you. It’s the kind that lingers, that shows up in quiet moments when you thought you’d moved on. But what I’ve learned in this journey of faith is that pain, when placed in God’s hands, doesn’t have to be wasted. It can be the very thing He uses to reveal His glory.

I haven’t always known how to process pain properly. For a long time, I either buried it deep or tried to fight through it on my own strength. But both of those paths only left me more worn out and disconnected. God didn’t ask me to pretend I was okay. He asked me to bring the pain to Him.

Some of my deepest wounds have come from spiritual warfare, those invisible battles that attack your peace and try to shake your identity in Christ. I’ve walked through the heartbreak of divorce with my oldest child’s father, grieved the death of my own father (my spiritual rock), and felt utterly trapped in a job that drained me. Each one of those seasons brought me to my knees. Each one of them made me ask, God, where are You in this?

And yet… I was never alone.

When I look back now, I can see how God was working behind the scenes, even in the pain. I had a job, when so many were struggling to find one. When my father passed, the outpouring of love from men and women of God was overwhelming. And today, I have a husband who loves and supports me in ways that are nothing short of redemptive.

That’s how God works. He doesn’t just remove the pain, He redeems it. He doesn’t ignore our wounds; He transforms them into a witness.

I’m learning to stop hiding my pain and start asking God to use it. To say, Lord, this hurt me. But if it can help someone else, if it can point them to You, then use it. That prayer has changed how I carry my scars. They no longer feel like signs of defeat, they’re marks of survival, of grace, of growth.

There’s a beautiful story in John 9 where Jesus heals a man born blind. His disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” And Jesus answered, “Neither... but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3, NIV).

That verse hit me differently once I’d been through some storms. What if this happened not to break you, but to bring Him glory? What if the very thing that hurt the most becomes the thing God uses to heal others?

Friend, if you’re in a painful season right now, I want you to know two things:

1.     You don’t have to process it alone. Bring your hurt to the God who sees, who stays, and who heals.

2.     Your pain can have a purpose. Let it become a platform for God’s power, not a prison for your soul.

Pain has shaped my story, but it doesn’t get the final say. God does. And He’s still writing my testimony, one redeemed chapter at a time.

Scripture to Hold Onto:"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."— 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Your Turn: Let God Use Your Pain

If you’re walking through a painful season, don’t carry it alone. Start by inviting God into your hurt, journal it, pray through it. Talk to a trusted friend or mentor. And most of all, ask Him to use your pain for something greater than you can see right now.

✨ Drop a comment below sharing a part of your story or a way God has shown up in your hardest moments. You never know who needs to hear that they’re not alone.

Let’s turn our pain into purpose together.

With grace, grit, and God's goodness,

💜 Raquel

Turning pain into purpose, one prayer at a time.