Based in the desert of West Texas, Amara Bratcher is a full-time student minister who also writes, takes pictures and volunteers with at-risk children. She has written a book entitled The Bridge That Love Built for adopted kids who have gaps in the early years of their lives. She likes her coffee French Pressed and wears her hair curly 365 days a year. 

pain tolerance

I am discovering something about myself, about my ability to weather pain.

I am more resilient than I give myself credit for.
I took the over-the-counter options off the table and decided when pain rears its head, I will meet it.

There are waves that build in my body - sometimes they break, sometimes they become tidal - and I am learning to simply ride them. I use what I have - breathing techniques, exercise, essential oils - and I just keep going.

After I made it through a rough couple of days last week, I turned to my sister and said, “You’re capable of handling more pain than you think.” And it hit me - this experiment in pain tolerance is a spiritual one as well.

Have you ever lived through a dark night of the soul, faced a crushing loss or experienced profound disappointment and looked up, shocked to see that you are still alive?

I have been given thorns so devastating they seemed incompatible with life, only to realize that it wasn’t my life that would bear it, it was His within me.

I am starting to discover -
that I am stronger than I thought,
that my spirit was made for fiercer battles than this,
that when all His breakers and waves crash over me, I am not being destroyed, I am being carried deeper.



The Subtext of Judges

Prayer of 5 Daughters