Suffering Restores Our Faith

Most of us would rather not experience the physical and mental pain that inevitably comes with suffering. But the fact we live in an imperfect world pretty much makes hard times a guarantee.

My husband recently received news that he had a malignant tumor in his thyroid and that surgery was eminent and immediate. We were taken for a loop. It really is such a surreal feeling when this kind of news is delivered. It’s actually quite difficult to process the enormity of it all. It hits you like a brick wall. All of us knows what cancer is, what it can mean to the person who has it and that person’s family, and we all understand that having it means that both physical and mental suffering are now a reality.

Thankfully, the malignant mass was surgically removed and the cancer cells did not spread beyond his thyroid to any lymph nodes. He still needs another surgery in a few months to completely remove his thyroid and a radioactive isotope treatment. But my husband is going to be fine and we both praise God everyday.

God is so good.

In those endless hours in the surgical waiting room, something stands out to me. This experience has benefits. This worry, this anxiety, this unknown, this struggle, this pain, this suffering is strengthening our relationship with God.

I have learned to thank God when things do not go my way because spiritual blessings come wrapped in trials. Adverse circumstances are normal in this broken fallen world.

Expect them each day.

Rejoice in the face of hardship.

Although never enjoyable in the moment, hardships produce something in us that we would never ever get if things were always easy.

When life is easy, we tend to forget that the Lord is really the one who has given us everything. We focus on our humanly achievements and accomplishments instead of being thankful for all we’ve been given.

Material possessions lose their luster real quick. Status, cars, houses, popularity doesn’t matter. Adversity and difficulties will teach you how to reevaluate your current priorities. Suffering helps us readjust our focus to where it should have been the whole time: on Jesus.

I know that this unimaginable and shocking experience has a purpose. At the time, the purpose was not known, but I knew it was to be more than suffering. I know now what that purpose is for him. It has lead my husband to a deepening of his faith and has brought about a renewal in his relationship with God. I can already see how my husband’s cancer and all that he has endured has taken him to a deeper level and relationship with the Lord.

This trial is building endurance. Each time we walk through something hard, we continue to build upon what He has already started in us — this is how we grow stronger. We allow Him to shape and mold us into better versions of ourselves.

As my husband said after he found out he was cancer free, “The uncertainty of life is found in the middle of the word life. You cannot spell life without an if.” Then he asks, “If I only had more time what would I do with it?” And this is where I know God is working within him. My husband said that faith, hope, and love are his themes that will guide him as he moves forward as a cancer survivor. If you know him, he will continue to embrace his love for travel and continue making his friends and family laugh with his immense sense of humor.

Suffering can be worth it if the results are life-changing.