What About Suffering? In episodes 143-146 on the Take Heart Special Moms Podcast, we’ve been discussing suffering, which can be really difficult to discuss. Countless books have been written on the topic. I don’t claim to be an expert in scripture, but I would love to share a few things I’m learning.
No one enjoys suffering
Yet throughout scripture, we see how it benefits us, producing perseverance, character, hope, perspective, and even gratefulness IF we allow it. That’s the key. We can fight, become bitter and cynical, or we can cry out to God in it and ask Him for help.
It’s our reaction to life not turning out the way we expect that reveals what we’re harboring deep in the depths of our hearts.
Recently, we’ve been experiencing some of the dangers of my son not feeling pain in his feet. One day, I followed a trail of blood through the house only to discover that he had hit his foot on something (we still don’t know what), and had injured it. He had no idea.
Pain is a warning. Pain is a clue.
It’s actually quite dangerous for us NOT to feel pain. In suffering, how we react when we’re in pain signals what we truly believe in our hearts. Pain draws to the surface some of the lies we believe about ourselves, God, and others. In suffering, it’s the sifting of the wheat, the burning off of the dross as we’re refined like gold.
In our reactions to pain, we should begin to pay attention to our behavior because it’s a clue to what we believe in our hearts.
These are a few that I’ve recognized lately:
*I don’t deserve this
*Shame for not doing enough, not being enough – which is the belief that unless I’m producing something, I have no value
*God truly doesn’t care for me
*I’ve suffered in the past in a specific area, which means I am past that and shouldn’t have to deal with it in the future
*This needs to get over quickly so I can truly live
…What would you add to this list?
Trials and tribulations
God never promised us that because we’re part of a club that typically no one chooses (parenting a child with a mental, physical, or learning disability), we won’t experience other sufferings.
In fact, God tells us to expect it, to count it joy when we face trials of various kinds, He gives us a guidebook all throughout the Bible in how to deal with suffering and reminds us of some amazing promises.
He’s always near; He never forsakes us!
He gives us the tool of lament throughout the Psalms, allowing us to tell him exactly how we feel (yes, even anger) about our circumstances and tell him about it. In fact, he invites us to lament.
Suffering is temporary no matter how long-lasting we think it will be — this life is temporary.
There’s ALWAYS hope. ALWAYS!
He will work everything together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes.
We have Jesus, who knows what it was like to live on this earth and experience suffering in the most horrendous of ways, and he sympathizes with us and intercedes on our behalf through the Father.
What have you learned about God in suffering?
When I’m struggling or going through a really rough time, music often helps me to pour out my feelings to God—to lament. The words of beautiful songs also help me remember God’s promises—that he is who he says he is.
Finally, I want to share some final words from Laura Story through her song Blessings, which is a great perspective about our sufferings—could we consider them blessings?
When friends betray us
And when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if the thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
Carrie M. Holt 
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