I suddenly got inspired to write this today, so I’m posting it up and sharing it with all of you…as a friend I really hope it blesses and encourages you. I’ve been going through some really tough times recently and it’s been hard to get past it, but God brought lots of comfort and perspective to me as I was typing this, and I’m really blessed by it like this. hope it blesses you too!!

Pain is real, suffering isn’t just a nightmare you can just snap your fingers and wake up from - it’s so easy to say “look at Christ and everything will be okay” - while it’s true that when we focus on God our pain and suffering is put into perspective, and into its right size (small next to Him), and that we can trust Him that He is in control, I’ve found through my 19 years of troubles…

(I can’t give you the details of every single trial and painful experience but I promise you it’s enough for someone my age. How strangely comforted I felt when my principles of counseling teacher said “wow you’ve been through all that at such a young age??” Somehow I felt comforted that someone didn’t try to pretend that it’s okay and normal, and that everything was perfect and rosy as many try to do in a bid to make me feel better)

…that while looking at God amidst a storm THE STORM STILL RAGES ON, sometimes even worse than before, and that just “LOOKING ON GOD” isn’t a one-off solution to a problem. Struggles -physical, emotional, mental, spiritual- they still go on. While keeping your eyes on Him, there is an ongoing battle for your heart and mind; after laying down one emotion another springs up, after laying down on problem another one emerges, after dealing with grief you’re thrown into confusion…it doesn’t just STOP at a one-off decision, just like how the fight for your soul doesn’t stop after you’ve decided to believe in Jesus -the devil doesn’t stop as long as you’re on this earth. I think the important thing about dealing with pain is to not ask “WHY”, but to ask “TO WHAT END?” ; it’s not about the CAUSE, but it’s about the RESPONSE. God directs attention from cause to response for OUR sakes, not HIS. God doesn’t need our good responses for Himself, to satisfy some jealous parental hunger. Our good response instead benefits US in terms of self-healing -an attitude of joy and gratitude will reduce stress, calm nerves, allay fears, help mobilise bodily defences etc. Triumphant sufferers take individual responsibility for their own responses and trust God despite the discomfort. When Job (the last person on the earth in his time who deserved to suffer) suffered as he did asked God WHY? God didn’t return him answers in His lengthy response in Job 38-41, but threw back at him questions instead. I think a God wise enough to create us and the world we live in is wise enough to watch out for us! Read all the majestic and amazing things God created and controls in those 3 chapters! Can we do one of those things? Until we know a little more about running the physical universe, I really don’t think we have a right to tell God how to run the moral universe. To try to explain the causes for everything, like our suffering and pain is like asking God to explain Einstein to a clam in the sea -God doesn’t need to reveal His grand design, He reveals Himself.

James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 4:12-13 and 1 Peter 1:6-7 tell us to rejoice/ consider it joy in our suffering -the apostles were not advocating acting tough or pretending to be okay or just bearing with it; but they recognised the productive use God can make of suffering in our lives. Pain has value, it produces something, it changes us. Romans 5:3-5 shows that perseverance will only develop in the midst of trying circumstances. We rejoice not in the fact that we are suffering, but in our confidence that the pain can be transformed. The value lies not in the PAIN itself, but in what we can MAKE out of it.

The advice, “keep your eyes on God” is not a one-off solution -we need to be sensitive to the fact that “keeping our eyes on Him” is a continual, non-stop process especially for those who are suffering. As we rely on God, and trust in His spirit to mold in us His image, true hope takes shape within us, “a hope that does not disappoint.” God is in us when it hurts -not in the things that hurt- helping to transform bad into good. We know that God can bring good out of evil; but we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good. Christians fully share the sorrow of this world, but we have hope for deliverance from our God. The harsh reality is that not everybody gets their reward on this earth, and some will suffer more than others (Hebrews 11). Pain is a reality for Christians and non-Christians alike, for all inhabitants of this earth (even God did not exempt Himself from suffering; consider the pain involved in Himself becoming a man and dying on a cross) but we need to get our perspectives RIGHT. We are not put on earth merely to satisfy our desires, to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We are here to be changed, to be made more like God in order to prepare us for a lifetime with Him. Health and life are not what we die out of, but what we die into.

God bless.