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The Pain of Prosperity
When the Promise Reveals More Than You Asked For
Jennifer Paulino
April 28, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
This Week’s Form Check FocusThe Pain of Prosperity is fueled by the Grief in Obedience.We often walk through life blind, thinking we know how to handle whatever hits us. Truth is—that’s a lie the enemy loves to sell. Life will blindside you. It will break you in ways you never saw coming. It will cloud our judgement and rewrite our stories in so many ways that are so far from the truth. I’m not here to sell you sunshine and rainbows after every storm, but rather to highlight the understanding of what rest looks like in the eye of it. |  |
Faith Brings Joy
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
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The Briefing
Where Pain Meets Truth
The weight of pain isn’t just scars.
Pain doesn’t just leave wounds—it rewires us.
Childhood trauma, unexpected grief, silent suffering—these things don't just scratch the surface. They dig deep, shifting the way we think, move, and respond to life. Pain leaves permanent marks, even when the world tries to tell us to just "get over it."
But here’s the tension: while pain leaves lasting damage, truth leaves lasting freedom.
Jesus died so we would have access to a different reality. Not a life without scars, but a life where your spirit can live unchained, no matter what this world does to your flesh.
Paul reminds us in Philippians 1:29 and Romans 5:3-5 that suffering isn’t senseless—it produces perseverance, character, and ultimately hope. A hope that never puts us to shame.
Healing Starts at the Root
Real healing doesn’t ignore reality—it transforms it.
Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our minds.
Transformation isn’t about pretending pain didn’t happen; it’s about rewiring how you live after it does.
Yes, your pain is real. Yes, some damage will leave permanent fingerprints on your flesh. But God’s redemption is louder than your scars.
Pain can either destroy you or develop you—and that choice is yours to make.
TODAY’S FORM CHECK
Training Lesson: How is pain shaping your story right now— is it destroying or developing you?
How can you view your suffering as a part of the process as you walk in your calling instead of a detour from it?
Philippians 1:29 reminds us that suffering isn’t just random—it’s part of what we’ve been granted in Christ. Hardship doesn’t disqualify you; it qualifies you for a deeper level of endurance, character, and testimony. Reflect on this: How is this season preparing you to carry the weight of your calling more responsibly?
Pain can lock us into survival mode if we’re not careful. Romans 12:2 calls us to transformation by the renewing of our minds—not just positive thinking, but a complete rewiring aligned with God's truth. Ask yourself: Where am I still thinking like a wounded person when God is calling me to think like a healed one?
What patterns of thinking need to be renewed so you can walk in God’s will instead of staying stuck in old wounds?
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Feeling the Pain Yet? Here’s our encouragement:
When we come to Christ we have a burden that should be carried with the utmost elegance and grace. It’s not a burden to be carried alone but rather with a community of responsible believers.
If you’re locking in, bring someone with you!
Forward this. Share the link. Invite them into the tension—into the place where waiting for God becomes training with Him. We carry light, but we carry well. Let’s build this together.
You’re not broken. You’re not too late. You’re being conditioned by the call.
And pain? That’s just a setup for purpose.
Spiritual Supplements
Conditioning Recommendations
▶ Worship Song: In Spite of Me (ft. Ciara) by Tasha Cobbs Leonard
▶ Podcast on repeat: In Totality by Megan Ashley
▶ Current read: The Power of the Other by Henry Cloud
More about Jennifer
Remembering Who You Are,
Will always bring you back home.
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Los Cacaos
Breakthrough Comes from the Pain
There was a season where God made me a promise — one rooted in purpose, not fantasy. I’ve prayed for years, thinking I understood what I was asking for. But when what I prayed for came close enough to touch, I realized the promise was never about a desire in my heart.
It was about the process.
God wasn’t handing me a finished story—He was handing me a mirror.
And the real work? It started when I stopped waiting on someone else to change and started letting God change me first.
It’s where the pain met truth and the truth set me free.
Free to believe in the goodness of God for WHO HE IS, not what he does.
And while the story is still being written and I have no clue how it ends— I find confidence in knowing the author. In HIS stories, HE always comes out victorious.
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