To Suffer Well
I've been reflecting on the concept of suffering for some time now. Rolling it around in my mind and heart, trying to understand it, make sense of it, trying to apply it to my life. Pain and suffering are no new concepts to the earth on which we live. It's been around since the beginning of time. It takes on various shapes and has varying degrees, but in the end we all experience pain in our journeys. I believe that we all feel pain; it can't be avoided. But I don't know that everyone suffers. Pain is an uncomfortable feeling, either physical or emotional, but suffering (from my perspective) can be marked by a lingering experience of pain. It's a process which a person figuratively walks through. Suffering changes us. It makes us question what we thought we knew was true, and it makes us wonder if this life is what we thought it was about. Suffering can make us rub elbows with doubt, depression, fatigue, anger...suffering can bring out the most hideous beast in us. But what if there was something more?
A long time ago, my Aunt Stella passed along a quote to me that said, "Don't question in the dark what God told you to be true in the light." Easier to acknowledge and follow when all is right in the world, am I right? In the darkness we too quickly buckle under the weight of our suffering and begin to question what we thought we knew was true. We doubt God's sovereignty, his justice, his honesty, his plan. We become disoriented, not sure where we should be going and aching over where we are.
So why is it that we suffer? Can there be purpose in our pain? The concept of suffering has been stirring in my heart because of two stories that have been relentless in my mind. The first is of a young couple where the wife underwent an organ transplant due to a rare condition. Her life was very much on the line yet from the beginning they pointed their attention and trust to the Lord. They glorified him at every turn and continue to serve him with enthusiasm and faithfulness. The second is of a young couple who lost their sweet baby very late in their pregnancy (after a previous miscarriage). They were and continue to be raw and real about their suffering, all the while fixing their eyes on Jesus. They take each day a day at a time and celebrate that their loss has caused so many eyes and hearts to be turned towards Jesus. Why is it that these precious people suffer and so many others?
Suffering. It's made me examine the intricate role it plays in our lives. And it's made me question what life is truly about at its deepest, most raw beginning. After thinking and talking about it, this is what I've come to believe: if you're a believer then life is about 1. becoming more like Jesus and 2. inviting people to follow Him too. Suffering accomplishes both of those purposes. It refines us, strips the worldly fragments from our bones, and causes us to look more like Jesus and less like ourselves. If we allow the process to take root. If we can embrace suffering as reality, as inevitable, only then can be we be subject to its changing power, and that change brilliantly allows people to see Something greater within us. It shows the world that in spite of wretched, heart shattering, and sorrowful situations that God still is good and at work.
How can we serve a God who allows, calls, and warns us that we will suffer? He sent his own Son on behalf to suffer desperately so that we might walk with Him in a personal, real, genuine, and intimate way; why wouldn't he allow, call, and warn us to suffer too? Suffering is part of being in a world that was not meant to be our home. It's that simple. Suffering happens for God's people and for those that don't walk with Him. We are not immune. God doesn't always prevent pain or suffering from entering our lives, but He is more than gracious to be with us in that pain. He hovers close on days where we can't move or breathe, and He soothes in ways no one else can.
Suffering is both simple and complex. It's both dreadful and beautiful. It can produce the most lovely of things, if we let it. God uniquely uses our suffering for good, for His glory. He doesn't let it go to waste, which somehow helps my heart. Our pain, our suffering does not have to be for naught. I have seen how God weaves our hearts together because of our hurts. Wounded hearts have a certain understanding for each other and sometimes can create the most sacred of friends.
So what is it to suffer well? Suffering well means letting the refinement take its course. It means moving through the process, whatever it may look like for you, and allowing it to point to Someone greater than yourself. And watching the strength in others as they suffer well reminds us to be prepared and ready for when it's our turn. Faithfulness, perseverance, and trust don't come naturally. They come from growing our roots when life is easy, sweet, and good. Suffering well takes work.
I'm thankful for purpose in our suffering. I'm thankful for community in our suffering. I'm thankful for growth in our suffering. And I'm thankful that we serve a God who has overcome the pains of this world, and that I'm never alone in my darkest hour. He is good, He is faithful, and He heals.
A long time ago, my Aunt Stella passed along a quote to me that said, "Don't question in the dark what God told you to be true in the light." Easier to acknowledge and follow when all is right in the world, am I right? In the darkness we too quickly buckle under the weight of our suffering and begin to question what we thought we knew was true. We doubt God's sovereignty, his justice, his honesty, his plan. We become disoriented, not sure where we should be going and aching over where we are.
So why is it that we suffer? Can there be purpose in our pain? The concept of suffering has been stirring in my heart because of two stories that have been relentless in my mind. The first is of a young couple where the wife underwent an organ transplant due to a rare condition. Her life was very much on the line yet from the beginning they pointed their attention and trust to the Lord. They glorified him at every turn and continue to serve him with enthusiasm and faithfulness. The second is of a young couple who lost their sweet baby very late in their pregnancy (after a previous miscarriage). They were and continue to be raw and real about their suffering, all the while fixing their eyes on Jesus. They take each day a day at a time and celebrate that their loss has caused so many eyes and hearts to be turned towards Jesus. Why is it that these precious people suffer and so many others?
Suffering. It's made me examine the intricate role it plays in our lives. And it's made me question what life is truly about at its deepest, most raw beginning. After thinking and talking about it, this is what I've come to believe: if you're a believer then life is about 1. becoming more like Jesus and 2. inviting people to follow Him too. Suffering accomplishes both of those purposes. It refines us, strips the worldly fragments from our bones, and causes us to look more like Jesus and less like ourselves. If we allow the process to take root. If we can embrace suffering as reality, as inevitable, only then can be we be subject to its changing power, and that change brilliantly allows people to see Something greater within us. It shows the world that in spite of wretched, heart shattering, and sorrowful situations that God still is good and at work.
How can we serve a God who allows, calls, and warns us that we will suffer? He sent his own Son on behalf to suffer desperately so that we might walk with Him in a personal, real, genuine, and intimate way; why wouldn't he allow, call, and warn us to suffer too? Suffering is part of being in a world that was not meant to be our home. It's that simple. Suffering happens for God's people and for those that don't walk with Him. We are not immune. God doesn't always prevent pain or suffering from entering our lives, but He is more than gracious to be with us in that pain. He hovers close on days where we can't move or breathe, and He soothes in ways no one else can.
Suffering is both simple and complex. It's both dreadful and beautiful. It can produce the most lovely of things, if we let it. God uniquely uses our suffering for good, for His glory. He doesn't let it go to waste, which somehow helps my heart. Our pain, our suffering does not have to be for naught. I have seen how God weaves our hearts together because of our hurts. Wounded hearts have a certain understanding for each other and sometimes can create the most sacred of friends.
So what is it to suffer well? Suffering well means letting the refinement take its course. It means moving through the process, whatever it may look like for you, and allowing it to point to Someone greater than yourself. And watching the strength in others as they suffer well reminds us to be prepared and ready for when it's our turn. Faithfulness, perseverance, and trust don't come naturally. They come from growing our roots when life is easy, sweet, and good. Suffering well takes work.
I'm thankful for purpose in our suffering. I'm thankful for community in our suffering. I'm thankful for growth in our suffering. And I'm thankful that we serve a God who has overcome the pains of this world, and that I'm never alone in my darkest hour. He is good, He is faithful, and He heals.
"'These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you
may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I
have overcome the world."" John 16:33
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