Suffering

When we’re in pain, our instinct is to run, numb, or hide. We too often seek relief in all the wrong places: drugs, alcohol, food, entertainment, distraction, sex etc. Sometimes we just shut down and shut God out completely.
Sometimes the pain is truly unavoidable (grief, betrayal, illness, loss), and all we can do is endure it. But far more often than we admit, we keep ourselves in prolonged suffering because we’re unwilling to address the pain in a way that will actually set us free.
Re-orientation toward God’s goodness, even in the most painful valley, is the way through. Where do you see Him, now? We know he never leaves us. As painful as this valley may be, how do I see Him sustaining me?
The way out is not painless. It demands deliberate suffering rooted in the belief that “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5
• Staying rooted in the word instead of slipping into fantasy.
• Walking away from the familiar-but-dead worldly solutions we’ve come to lean on
This kind of vulnerability with God eases suffering. This kind of suffering leads to real, chosen, ongoing suffering producing character and hope and increasing our reliance and closeness with Jesus.
But it’s the only path to the kind of love that makes life worth living. The same pattern shows up everywhere:
Many people who walk through my door looking for Christian counseling have spent years choosing the slow bleed of half-lived lives because the alternative felt too risky or too vulnerable. When they finally say, “I’m willing to suffer whatever it takes to be whole,” everything begins to change. As a Vancouver Christian counselor, I’ve watched courage like that transform lives. In the safety of faith-based counseling, people learn to keep their hearts open when every instinct screams to close them, to stay present when running feels easier, to trust God (and a few trustworthy people) with the most tender places. Yes, it will hurt.
But the hurt has an end, and on the other side is the peace you may have been pretending you already had. If you’re tired of managing misery and ready to choose the suffering that leads to joy, reach out. Through biblical counseling we can walk that narrow, painful, glorious path together—straight into the full, abundant life Jesus promised. Sometimes the only way out of hell is to be willing to walk through the fire instead of camping beside it forever.
You don’t have to do it alone; God is with you every step of the way.