Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We all experience pain, loss, and hardship. But how we respond to suffering shapes our lives in profound ways. When going through trials, many people feel like victims at the mercy of cruel circumstances. But as Christians, we can have a different perspective – one that sees suffering as an opportunity for growth and strengthening of faith.
Through Christ’s love, God can use our pain to refine us and focus our hearts on what truly matters. If we run to Him in our suffering, we discover that God understands our hurt and seeks to serve us through it. Our trials become the vehicle by which God’s love transforms us.
- Suffering is different for Christians. Though they still experience suffering, they have a new perspective on it.
- Suffering can serve Christians. God can use suffering to refine and grow their faith. Christians are “more than conquerors” through Christ’s love.
- Suffering can help remove the graven image of God as our accomplice. It can show that God has His own plans, not just to serve our desires.
- Suffering can help prioritize communion with God. When other comforts are stripped away, we realize God is all we need.
- In suffering, we should focus on who God is (“the who”) and what He is doing (“the what”). His love, agenda, and plans are good, though we may not understand “the why” of our suffering.
- We should run to God in our suffering. His love understands and seeks to use our pain for our good and growth.
Suffering can strip away life’s distractions and crowd out the noise, forcing us to prioritize communion with God. In suffering, we realize that He is all we need and all we have. If we surrender our pain to the loving purposes of God, our trials no longer define us but serve us. Though we may never understand “the why” of our suffering in this life, we can trust the goodness of the “who” and “what” – a God of love who uses our hurt to shape us into the people He created us to be.
So let your suffering drive you into the patient, comforting arms of your heavenly Father. Run to Him, and discover that in Christ, you are “more than conquerors” through every storm. Allow God to use your pain for your ultimate good, and see how He can transform your trials into opportunities for growth, faith and a deeper trust in His perfect love.