The Better Cry: I’d Rather Cry in God’s Arms Than Laugh Outside His Will

By Sherita Jones | The Anointing Grace

There’s a pattern I can’t unsee anymore:

Satan offers pleasure, God allows pain.

One dulls us into spiritual sleep; the other wakes us up like cold water on the face. And if we’re honest, most of us, myself included were taught, directly and indirectly, to chase the pleasure and dodge the pain.

But here’s the revelation God keeps pressing into my heart:

“I’d rather cry in Your arms than laugh outside of Your will.”

Because laughter outside His will is just noise over emptiness, and tears inside His presence are water for something holy to grow.

The Pleasure Trap. Pretty on the Outside, Poison on the Inside

Pleasure isn’t always sin, but the enemy knows how to twist it: Another scroll, another bite, another binge, another swipe. Small comforts that feel harmless until we realize they’ve starved the spirit and fattened the flesh. We’re stuffed yet hollow, stimulated yet numb. Pleasure seduces the flesh, but it starves the spirit.

God’s Mercy in Pain, A Holy Ambush

So God, faithful, jealous, relentless, lets pain through the gate. Not to crush us, but to resurrect us. To tear down idols, expose false comforts, and rebuild us in truth.

Pain isn’t punishment, it’s positioning. It didn’t break you, it broke the shell that was hiding the real you.

Adam & Eve chased forbidden pleasure and lost unbroken fellowship.

Israel craved Egypt’s ease and stalled their Canaan.

David found God’s heart in caves, not castles.

And Jesus? If He didn’t endure the pain of the cross, there would be no resurrection, no empty tomb, no living hope.

If the Son of God needed the cross to reveal glory, why should I think comfort alone will shape Christ in me?

What Pain Produces (When We Let It)

Awakening, You’re not going backward, you’re being awakened.

Clarity, Pain scrapes the film off our eyes; we finally see what matters.

Depth, Easy seasons rarely teach what fiery ones writes on the soul.

Dependency, Tears train us to lean, and leaning is where power flows.

God, in His mercy, allows pain “to tear down idols, expose false comforts, and rebuild us in truth.” He’s not vandalizing our lives; He’s renovating them.

Choosing the Better Cry

So I’m learning to pray dangerous prayers:

“Strip me of what sedates me.”

“Interrupt every counterfeit comfort.”

“Forge me in fire if it keeps me in Your arms.”

Because the older I get, the more I know:

Cheap pleasure can’t hold a candle to holy peace. And a single tear caught by God means more than a thousand laughs offered by the world.

Final Heart-Cry

Lord, if it takes the wilderness to wake me, if it takes the cross to birth resurrection in me, I say yes. I’d rather cry in Your arms than laugh outside of Your will.

And to the one reading, if pain is pounding on your door, remember: It’s not your finish line; it’s your foyer. Step through. Let Him work.

You’re not being destroyed. You’re being resurrected.