Purposeful Pain: Give Me Your Isaac

By Lauren Jackson

In our most painful moments in life, it's natural to question God's purpose. Why me? Why now? Why this? But growth is waiting behind the pain, if you can find the strength to face it. Lauren G. Jackson shares her personal journey through a pain that began in childhood and culminated in a devastating divorce in adulthood. In these darkest moments, she caught a glimpse of God's will and found the purpose in her pain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lauren Jackson
• Release date: Jun 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393044253

Book preview

PURPOSEFUL

Pain

LAUREN GRIMES-JACKSON

Purposeful Pain Copyright © 2019 by Lauren G. Jackson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Cover photography by AG Imagery

Front cover designed by Don Carey III

Back cover designed by The Joyous Marketing Team

Editing by Self-Publishing Services, selfpublishingservices.com

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: June 2019

My Purpose

As you’re about to enter Purposeful Pain, it is important that you know that this book was written not only to assist you in navigating towards the finding of your purpose, but also to lead you into an intimate and lasting relationship with Christ, the Rock that is higher than I.

DEDICATION

Idedicate this book first to my idol, Harriet Tubman, as one who left and returned on purpose to free hundreds of slaves. My design is to do the same, after having been set free, laying bare my life experiences in an effort to set at liberty the broken and lead them to wholeness and purpose.

Further, I dedicate this book to my whys, my two young sons, Alan D. Jackson, III, and Alex Lawrence Jackson. This healing was for the two of you!

To my mother, who spent COUNTLESS hours editing, reading, transcribing, and praying through it all. This book would be nothing without you! I love you beyond the stars, and I am so grateful for your God-given gifts.

To my father, thank you for instilling in me to never allow the throws of life to determine the fate of my destiny. Thank you for reminding me daily that I was always built for this moment, on PURPOSE.

Table of Contents

Purposeful Pain

Foreword

Putting a name to the pain

Who did it?

Losses versus Lessons

Necessary

Living through it

Forgiveness

Worth versus value: Are they the Same?

For my Good

Give me your isaac

About the author...

Foreword

Hello Pain,

Iam pretty sure you are surprised to see me smiling wider, looking better, and slaying my goals. I decided to write to you and thank you for all you did to get me to this point. There were so many times on this journey when I questioned what God’s plan was in burdening me with your constant presence, but I finally understand the reason God had you there all this time—so I could experience Purposeful Pain.

Experiencing Purposeful Pain has been like delivering a baby and enjoying all of the emotional rollercoasters that come along with hormonal changes. There were days when I felt horrible, wanting to give up and never come out of my room. Then there were days when I felt as if the world was my domain and there was nothing stopping me from reaching all my lofty goals. Lastly came the fear of delivering this baby alone. Could I truly see this thing to the end? Did God intend for it to be like this?

But God positioned me to hear Him and learn about my Purpose so I could teach the world how to live a WHOLE life built upon living with Purpose for the glory of God. So, Pain, thank you for helping me to find my Purpose and for readying me for the next dimension. Truth be told, I wasn’t ready, but I am now!

Onward with Purpose,

Lauren

Putting a name

to the pain

If you have been intrigued enough to open this book, you must have experienced pain at some point in your life. My desire, as my life unfolds before your very eyes in this book, is to bring you to the realization that pain is designed to make you better, not bitter.

Wikipedia Dictionary defines pain as, Physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. However, pain can manifest itself in many different forms other than physical. Emotional pain forms the backdrop of this book, and it is defined by Elizabeth Bolger as, A state of feeling broken that involved the experience of being wounded, loss of self, disconnection, and critical awareness of one’s more negative attributes.¹

Many of us have labored under emotional distress, and most have emotional wounds that have not yet healed. Throughout the discourse of Purposeful Pain, you will travel with me, Lauren G. Jackson, a woman who has survived the vagaries of emotional trauma in her journey toward wholeness. I hope that through my pain, you can find healing.

Let the journey begin!

At twenty, I became a wife to a wonderful man whom I met in college, and at twenty-four, our first child was born. My career in the banking industry was taking off, and I was experiencing tremendous success. With