What Has Suffering Taught You?

[cheelonos]

To the Non-Christian: We Christians care about you - that's why we come to this room. I hope that something we say in this thread may help to alleviate your pain. If I can help you individually, please know that you are always welcome to pm me.

To the Christian: In reading through the thread titles in here, it is obvious that many people who come here are suffering. This is a thread for you Christians to encourage those who are in pain. Please include not only what you've learned, but specific verses that have helped.

(I have started similar threads in the Christian forums, but I didn't want to leave out ministering to those who have not trusted in Christ as their Savior. We have all been there.)

May God bless you all, and thank you in advance for your replies.
Aloha in Jesus

P.S. While we are waiting for responses to this thread, you might want to look at Personal/Physically Challenged under this thread title to see what they had to say, it doesn't all apply to just physical, and there are 19 replies so far.

Suffering has taught me to live. Bad things happen. Bad things will always happen. I could die in a blazing ball of flame that was my car only moments before tomorrow morning. So I'm going to live to the fullest, savor every moment simply because I'm alive. I'm here to learn and to experience things.
Slogging through suffering also shows me my own strength. It gives me self confidence to look back at something and think, "See... that didn't kill me now did it?" I learn perseverence.

 

[Envy]

Suffering has taught me that there is always someone worse off than me and I shouldn't really moan about it. I also learnt that we should deal with the pain and continue with our lives.

 

[bethdinsmore]

In addition to the wisdom you all are sharing in here, I thought some of you might like to see this similar thread I started. Many good answers there too.
http://www.christianforums.com/t2334870-what-has-suffering-taught-you.html&page=1

Aloha in Jesus

 

[LeeLeeMarie]

I was agnostic for 3 years and I went through everything you could think of. I was constantly stoned, I shut myself from the world, sat in my room listening to some Mudvayne or Slipknot or anything heavy and loud and wrote my feelings down, sometimes scribbling just to pass time. I used to have a Satanist boyfriend, and he used to tell me that Satan is real and he's the way to go. I was close to listening to him, but then I realized, if Satan is real, then so is God. I used to hate church and hate everyone around me. I'd get super angry real easily. I was failing classes because of lack of doing my work, due to the fact that the Seroquel had kicked in and I was too dozed to do it. I've overdosed before, and I've tried to kill myself. Like now that I'm saved and living with Him guiding me, I can keep my mind straight and life in all aspects is under control.

That's bits and pieces of the post I had in one of these threads. I've been through some tough times, but I think God gave me struggles so I'd be strong and prepared for my Christian life. It's tough out there. You gotta know how to handle it. Of course, I'm not prefect, I'll make mistakes, but thankfully, He also made me hard-headed. Just to Non-Christians, know that we all have hard times, everyone does.

[Tank]

 

[bethdinsmore]

Thought some of you might like to read this devotional on the storms of life (January 16)
http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/classics/streams

Her Streams in the Desert is a book of devotionals I have especially appreciated whenever I am suffering. (As well as Peter's Epistles and Philippians).

Aloha in Jesus

 

[bethdinsmore]

In the similar thread in Physically Challenged, someone brought up an objection to a loving God. Since this has appeared several times in here as well, I thought my reply in there would be relevant:
QUOTE:
...my conclusions about what suffering has taught me concerning a loving God - hope it doesn't seem like I am debating, as I realize the place for that is in the Discussion and Debate forum.

(From my notes
5. Doesn’t the presence of so much suffering in the world mean either that God does not exist, or that He’s not loving, powerful, or wise?

Personally, here is my reasoning in a nutshell. I am loving, and if I could I would stop all suffering. But that doesn’t prove that God doesn’t exist or that He is not loving or powerful or wise – it merely proves that He sees things differently than I do.

(I won't go into apologetics here in detail - for proofs of the existence of God, I recommend such sites as www.tektonics.org or www.probe.org )

God wanted the world to be like the Garden of Eden – but He also wanted people to have free will. The existence of free will simply means that man has a choice to choose evil. God did not create evil – He created choice.

The fact that God is all powerful does not mean that He can do all things. For example, He cannot sin. It simply means that He can do all things that are in His nature to do. It is in His nature to be both loving and just.

He knows that we learn best by hardship and suffering. He knows that is how man, unless he is a child, is most likely to come to Him for salvation and an eventual eternal home in Heaven. (At the same time, He already knows who will never trust Christ as Savior – but to remove suffering from them and therefore remove their biggest reason for trusting Christ as Savior would not be just. In addition, their suffering could lead others to an eternity in Heaven. That thought does not make me comfortable, but it nonetheless is true.)

Finally, what is the litmus test of the greatest love?
John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (NIV)

Rom 5:7-8
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV)


I'm sure I've just touched the surface. In addition, much more thorough and scholarly answers can be found here:

Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Faith”, especially chapter one, entitled: “Since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot”. Mr. Strobel, for the sake of argument, takes that view and debates with the person he is interviewing (Peter Kreeft, author of “Making Sense our of Suffering”). I would say he pulls no punches.

Also, a wonderful workbook and Bible study on the attributes of God is by Myrna Alexander – "Behold Your God". (I admit it is written for women, but the principles apply no matter what.) END QUOTE

Aloha in Jesus

 

[bethdinsmore]

Thought some of you might enjoy reading the website posted below. The Our Daily Bread devotional reminds me of most of you in this thread. (It also has a place to click to retrieve the pamphlet "Why would a good God allow suffering".) Here it is:
http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

 

[bethdinsmore]

In case anyone is interested, here is my devotional on Psalm 23:
http://www.christianforums.com/t2546811-the-lord-is-my-shepherd-and-im-worried-to-death.html#post21557222

 

[bethdinsmore]

BTW - don't want to be hogging this site, even tho it may appear that way.

 

[Cathulhu]

Suffering has taught me that everyone suffers. Suffering has taught me to live with imperfection and pain because suffering need not ruin you. Through suffering I have become harder, a better person. I have seen how suffering can effect people and I have tried to cause as little as possible.

 

[gitamerah]

What I've learned is that, in suffering, you see God's love and grace even more. I didn't notice this at first. In the first few years, I went grumbling and wallowing in self-pity.

Nowadays, there are still tough days and I wondered why things went the way they were. I complained about what I didn't have and in so doing, missed the BIG picture: I am still alive. I have my needs provided for. He is still there with me. He had died for me. I know that His love will never depart from me.

So, I repented from my complainings and thanked the Lord for bringing me safely through my trials.

Some of you said already that suffering made you all the more appreciative of the little things in life. Some realize how much more precious your children are to you. You begin to see what you didn't see before: your children's laughter, how precious peace and quiet is, and so on. I know because I felt this way too.

Humans have a tendency to be stuck in their own little world. Maybe suffering is God's way to get our attention. Perhaps, He's been telling us all along that He is there, He loves us, He wants us to come home. But we didn't hear Him.

Perhaps, that is the point of suffering: that we see beyond ourselves long enough to see God's love for us. It's hard to understand why suffering is necessary, but... humans are humans. Unless something huge shakes us awake... we refuse to listen. I didn't listen either. I flat-out refused to come to Jesus until I realize... He's the only one who could give me the peace that I was looking for.

 

[nowhereville]

Even though my life story read like some poorly written horror story of events - I hate to even TELL people my testimony because I am sure people walk away and thnk okay there's NO way someone can go through all that and still be vertical, I clung to the stubborn and human belief that my world was secure and that all would always be good.

Then one year, on July 4th at 6:30 AM I got a phont call that changed my life forever. My father had been badly hurt and was not expected to survive the day.

His subsequent coma and death taught me that EVERY day is precious and everyone in my life is more precious then words to me. I need to make time while I have time, because I don't know when the phone will ring again between 11:00 and 6:00 with news I don't want to hear.

Every breath I take is sacred and precious - I learned that because my father could not breath.

My ONLY regret is that I did not learn this until he died so that I might have shared it with him.

 

[sethad]

I don't tell people what happened to me because I either get bashed for it or laughed at.

 

[Manic]

I do not meant to be disrespectful, but my suffering has taught me that there is no God. No Allah, no Buddha, and no Gaia. I figured out that these divine beings are the product of mankind's unrealistic expectations of perfection. And by perfection I mean Happiness, Purity, and Peace. These Gods are just a personification of our ideas of what life should be like. I am Pagan, but I don't take my beliefs literally. I learned that I was the only person that cared about me, so I helped myself. I've been severely depressed since I was 12 (I'm 18 now) and during that time all I did was blame God and curse him on a daily basis. But I later realized that was immature and stupid.

I was very sad and distraught so I picked myself and told myself that my depression would not over come me. And it hasn't. So basically, I taught myself that I have ultimate control over my life.

 

[sethad]

I do not meant to be disrespectful, but my suffering has taught me that there is no God. No Allah, no Buddha, and no Gaia. I figured out that these divine beings are the product of mankind's unrealistic expectations of perfection.

You arent the only one that has stated that, several others did and so far nobody is taking offense to it.

 

[Kazahel]

I don't tell people what happened to me because I either get bashed for it or laughed at.

I cant tell mine because of almost the exact opposite reasons.

Lifes funny sometimes hey.

 

[bethdinsmore]

For those of you who are suffering and depressed, I wish I could give each one of you a big hug right now.

(I'm the grandmotherly type, and who can't use a grandmother's hug from time to time?)

((((((((((((for you))))))))))))

Aloha in Jesus