I’ve been going through some excruciating pain and suffering ever since my beloved husband Chester has departed us over three months ago now.  Actually it really started when he had gotten sick, taking care of him and watching him go through his pain and discomfort, and suffering. That was painful.

The pain hasn’t gone away. Sometimes it’s as fresh as when it first happened. Just when you think the wound is starting to heal a bit and form a scab,it’s just as raw as before. I have learned that that everyone goes through some kind of pain and suffering in their lives. No one goes through life on this earth unscathed. It’s all how we respond to it that determines how we get through our suffering.

For the believer in Christ, we have a hope. He is our helper and will help us through those tough times if we trust Him. Better yet we have the ultimate hope of that we can look forward to when Jesus rescues us from this world into His presence where we will never experience any kind of pain and suffering again. That’s what I look forward to. A time when suffering and pain will be no more. Our suffering on this earth is temporary. It may hurt and hurt bad but in the end God works it our for the good. In the end it will be worth it.

Pain and suffering is not pretty. It’s tough,it’s hard, it hurts (most of the time real bad). It seems unjust and not fair but God is sovereign and allows bad things  happen to us refine us, to purify us, to test our faith, to prepare us for the next life. We don’t understand but He has a plan and we can be assured that He loves and will never leave us nor forsake us.

It makes us more reliant on God. Sometimes it is overwhelming and it seems like we can’t handle it. We’re hanging on by a thread. We can’t handle it on our own, it’s only through Jesus that we can handle our pain and suffering. It’s with His help that He will get us through.  We have to take it one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time. We live in a flawed corrupted world and as long as we are on this earth and this earth stands we are going to go through tough times. That’s a fact. One thing to remember is that God does love us and we can trust Him no matter what.  He knows best. He sees the big picture. I still don’t fully understand, perhaps I never will but I do have that hope that in the next life there will be no more pain and suffering. The pain and suffering I’m going through now will be only for a season. When I am in the presence of my Lord and Savior, it will cease.