I believe that suffering can only be experienced by yourself and for yourself. No one is feeling or going through what you are going through, even though their outward circumstances may be similar. Then faith steps in.
You can draw on God’s strength and power when you don’t feel like yours is adequate for your situation. God was, is, and forever will be, unchangeable, no matter what you go through. God lives beyond the three-dimensional world that we live in, which is the here and now. He knows the beginning and the end, even when we are confused.
Allow yourself to be comforted by God and believe in the greater good. It will keep you sane, compassionate, and alert to finding some reason for everything.
Here’s a few ways suffering can help you become a stronger person:
-You learn to share in the pain of others. Empathy.
-You see God at work in your friends, and sometimes people you hardly know.
-You learn to appreciate loved-ones (spouse, children, extended family) in new and powerful ways.
-You learn to love more unconditionally.
-You realize that you don’t get to choose when and how you experience pain.
-You lose control of your life in the tough times, which isn’t fun, but instead you’ll learn to live with, and in, the process— the journey.
-You’ll see that this life is temporary, and it goes by so fast.
-You learn more trust.
-When going through your “dark night of the soul” seasons you become a more fully developed, a more mature version of yourself by learning to let-go of what you think the outcome of any situation should be.
Learn to dig deeper than you ever thought possible; drawing hope from the deepest inner places, when you think there’s nothing left.
Somehow through it all, your pain will propel you forward in this fragile, yet strong human body, on this challenging spiritual journey, that we call life.
