ministry though pain and hurt

It is often the case that our greatest effectiveness in ministry takes place during times of personal pain and woundedness.

However, that is always the result of a choice. 

A choice as to whether you and I are going to let God speak through us (during times of hurt) or whether or not we are going to let our wounded self cry out.

It is a choice that will come to us time and again, many times it will come repeatedly during the activities of any given day.

There is a time and a place to give attention to your hurts (and that time and place must happen).

That's why I continually encourage people to "window out" a time each day where they allow that hurt and that grief to pour out - to pour out from their inner spirit - and to reveal those feelings to God.

Otherwise, your emotions and feelings will bottle up and eventually explode at a moment that almost always ends up being damaging.

The positive result of this is that I avoid letting my hurt leak out into the daily interactions that I have in the form of apologies, arguments, or complaints (after all, hurting people hurt people).

As we hurt, we can hurt others, and that is the highest form of relational destruction there is.

The "high road" is to claim the God in you, and let God speak words of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation.  That kind of relational flow can only come through the Holy Spirit.

Even as Christians, or maybe I should say especially as Christians we can have a tendency to (as some have said crassly) "when a person is down, keep them down."

It is one of the highest forms of ungodly perversion there is.  Especially when it happens to someone we don't like or care for.

When you are hurting, some around you will point out your character defects, your limitations and sins. 

Don't believe them!  You are a child of God!  God loves you! 

Let the Holy Spirit help you distinguish between your wounded self and God's voice.

And remember: when hurt comes, you are being prepared for greater things.