Dear friend,
If you are walking through pain and loss right now, please know you are not alone. God is
near to the broken-hearted (Psalm 34:18). He has not abandoned you, and He promises to
walk with you through this valley – step by step, moment by moment.
The Bible doesn’t brush past the reality of suffering. It acknowledges it fully. Job wrestled
with it, the psalmists cried out in it, and Jesus Himself – the “man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief” (Isaiah 53:3) – endured it at its deepest. Because of this, you can be certain that
God not only understands your suffering but is present with you in it. And though the pain is
real, He is also working through it, for your good and for His glory. Let me share four ways He
does this.
- He draws you closer to Himself
When life is calm, it’s easy to drift into believing we can manage just fine on our own. But in
seasons of loss, we find ourselves face-to-face with how fragile we really are. It’s in those
moments that God whispers, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Suffering has a way of stripping away false supports, leaving us leaning on Him alone. And in
that leaning, we discover something precious: His presence becomes sweeter, His promises
dearer, and His love more real. Sometimes, it is only when we have nothing else to cling to
that we truly learn He is enough.
2. He shapes you to be more like Christ
Suffering never leaves us unchanged. It can either make us bitter or make us tender. God
desires to use it as a refining fire, not to destroy us but to form us more fully into the
likeness of Jesus. Peter speaks of this when he says that trials refine our faith like gold in the
fire (1 Peter 1:7).
Even Jesus himself “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). If the Son
of God walked this road, then we know that suffering is not wasted. Joni Eareckson Tada,
who has lived most of her life in a wheelchair, once said: “God permits what He hates to
accomplish what He loves”. In God’s hands, even the hardest things can become instruments
of his grace, shaping our character, deepening our trust, and teaching us to reflect Christ in
ways comfort never could.
3. He deepens your compassion for others
Pain has a way of enlarging the heart. When we suffer, we gain a tenderness toward others
who are hurting. We learn how to listen without rushing, how to sit with someone in silence,
how to carry another’s burden without quick answers.
Paul describes God as the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us
in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from Him (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Your sorrow today may one day
become the well of comfort for someone else tomorrow. The very valley you are walking in
might become the place from which you can gently guide another soul who feels lost in the
dark. God never wastes our pain – He redeems it into empathy, kindness, and the ability to
love others more deeply.
4. He anchors your hope in eternity
One of the greatest gifts hidden in suffering is how it loosens our grip on this world. Pain
reminds us that life here is temporary, that we are pilgrims on the way home. Paul, who
endured countless hardships, could still write: “For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The grief you feel is real, but it also points forward to the day when Jesus will make all things
new. Death and tears do not get the final word – resurrection does. One day, He will wipe
away every tear from your eyes (Revelation 21:4). Until that day, He gives you grace for
today and hope for tomorrow. In this way, suffering becomes not just a burden to bear but
a compass pointing us toward eternity, reminding us that our true home is with Him, where
sorrow and death will be no more.
This season may feel long and overwhelming, but you are not walking it alone. God is with
you in the valley, holding you, steadying you, and surrounding you with His love. May you
sense His nearness in quiet moments, may you feel His hand lifting you when you are weary,
and may you rest in the hope that one day, every shadow of pain will be gone in the light of
His presence.
Blessings
Nico