I don't want it to pass.

I mean, I don't want to be in pain anymore. I don't want people to look at me as that weak girl. I don't want to be lesser, or my life to be dominated by hurt.

But I don't want it to just fade.

"He'll erase all our pain," they say, talking about heaven.

But what if I don't want it erased?

Here's the painful truth:

It's real.

Everything you're going through? It's real.

But I don't want it to pass.

No one should want it to pass.

If you're a Christian: we can take comfort knowing that it won't just "pass".

"Put my tears in your bottle; are they not in your book?" says the Psalmist. And that right there is a comfort, far more than any statement of "passing".

Jesus feels our pain, too.

Jesus literally holds our hands. He felt everything we do. Jesus is here. Jesus is holding you, and he's holding me, and he loves us so very much.

We are His, but we go through trials so that we can become more like Him, and because this world is such an evil and cruel place because of sin.

But it's not just going to "pass".

Pass implies moving on. Forgetting. Being somewhere else.

But that's not what we should want.

Someday our tears will be wiped away and our world will change to one that is perfect. But I don't think "perfect" means we'll forget everything that happened to get us there.

I think perfect means the pain won't continue.

It won't be forgotten--that's the part we need to remember. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away.

And he has written down our pain.

It's not vain suffering, guys.

You're hurting--AND HE KNOWS.

He's felt it.

He loves you.

He holds you.

And he won't forget.

It won't pass. It won't be forgotten.

You don't suffer in vain.

Jesus holds you.