What if We Have a Choice in How We Suffer?
When you face hard places, what if you could come out on the other side wiser, kinder, stronger? Would it be worth it? Speaking from experience, yes … not that I go looking for hard things.
The apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the ancient church in Corinth:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-17
What you may be suffering doesn’t seem light, does it?
Your diagnosis is late stage. Your bridegroom didn’t show up for your wedding. You can’t seem to carry a child to full term. Your best friend betrayed you. You’re confined to a wheelchair or a bed. Your child overdosed on drugs.
These aren’t light and momentary things.
But compared to eternity, they’re just for this moment—this moment we have on earth, which is racing toward the end even as we speak.
So, if our days are short and numbered, and if life guarantees us hard places and heart-breaking events, do we have a choice in how we suffer? And if so, then what are those choices?
Whitney Capps, author and national speaker had this to say:
“If blessing is meant to show us that He is worthy, suffering is meant to show us He is trustworthy. … When we suffer well—remaining steadfast, hopeful, faithful, and teachable—it is evidence to the world that God is more valuable and trustworthy than wealth, health, and even family.”
Seems as if some of our choices are:
Remaining steadfast and faithful.
Keeping your hope alive.
Maintaining a teachable heart—because surely there is something God wants us to learn in our suffering.
Add to that gratitude, even when it seems there’s not much to be grateful for.
Coupled with gratitude, how about paying better attention to life—to our people and the simple pleasures that make up a full and sweet life. Paying attention to all there is to be grateful for helps us see the good while struggling in our hard places.
This thought from Ann Voskamp in her book, Waymaker:
“God isn’t transactional, making deals with us of no pain in exchange for faithful love. God is relational, making the way to be with us through pain because He is faithful Love. God doesn’t keep us from suffering; He keeps us through it.”
Since we know that good can come from our pain and loss, why don’t we lean into the hard place instead of kicking against it. And by ‘leaning in’, I mean:
taking a deep breath …
settling in close to God and his words …
quiet and trusting …
releasing the diagnosis, the miscarriage, the rejection to God …
and determining to live as well as possible through the loss and sorrow with His help.
Speaking from experience, we do have a choice in how we suffer. And this hard thing can make us more compassionate, kinder, gentler.
Which is a priceless gift from God!
