I used to believe that putting faith in God meant nothing wrong would ever happen to me. If I believed enough, then God would protect me from the pain and suffering of this world.

But when I learned what it meant to put true and complete faith in God, I discovered that pain and suffering were inevitable.

“God does not want our faith kept in mothballs, so He sometimes allows trials and testing to come into our lives; the unexpected hardships and heartbreaks that rock us in places we never thought we'd face as a child of God. And it's in those defining moments that we knock off the cobwebs of our everyday faith and face life with a new and improved one that's empowered by God Himself.”
― Ron Lambros

Does faith in God eliminate trials?

When our first daughter was born, I saw how incredible and inexplicable God truly was. Not long before her birth, my husband and I suffered a miscarriage. There was a certain naivety with my first pregnancy when there was no fear or concern for what could happen.

We shared the news of our pregnancy with the world, ecstatic to celebrate our new chapter, but a week later I started to cramp and bleed.

Despite the signs, I believed in my soul that God was going to protect my baby. I believed the child in my womb would enter this world. Yet, after our first doctor’s appointment, I learned that wouldn’t be the case.

For an entire week, I sobbed the ugliest of tears soaking through my pillowcases and couch cushions. There was no explanation as to what happened, just that it happened and it surprisingly happens often.

That’s when I fully understood that faith in God doesn’t eliminate trials.

What does the Bible say?

It is easy for someone who may not read the Bible to believe that faith in God should eliminate all suffering of any kind. Yet as you read the Bible, you learn that suffering is inevitable. Consider these few verses regarding trials.

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” - 2 Timothy 3:12, ESV (emphasis mine)

When we chose to live a godly life we will experience oppression, mistreatment, pain, and suffering. In America, we may not feel persecuted, but Christians in the Middle East and Asia are persecuted on a regular basis.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, WHEN you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4, ESV (emphasis mine)

As followers of Christ, we will experience a variety of trials. For some of us, the trials come in the form of poverty, problematic relationships, abuse, addictions, etc… For others, our trials look like sickness, disability, or even the death of a loved one. One thing is certain - suffering will happen.

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” - 1 Peter: 6-7, NLT (emphasis mine)

No matter what, we will endure suffering. Every single person on this earth will experience trials. Neither rich nor poor, black nor white, male nor female can escape the probability of being tested in their faith.

Some will crumble under the suffering, giving up all hope, while others will find a way to thrive. Every circumstance is different, but we all have control of how we perceive and react to our situation.

We can either wallow in the despair of our suffering or we can look for the hope that exists, because even in the midst of suffering, we can encounter blessings and experience joy.

Blessings

The most basic definition of a blessing is “God’s favor and protection.” But what does that actually mean?

Vaneetha Rendall Risner from Desiring God put it perfectly - “Scripture shows that blessing is anything God gives that makes us fully satisfied in him. Anything that draws us closer to Jesus. Anything that helps us relinquish the temporal and hold on more tightly to the eternal. And often it is the struggles and trials, the aching disappointments and the unfulfilled longings that best enable us to do that.”

Blessings go far beyond money or material things. It even goes beyond intelligent, obedient kids. or the perfect husband.

In those moments when we get what we have always dreamed, there isn’t a need for God.

Suffering as a blessing

When our daughter entered this world, I both rejoiced for her birth and grieved for the loss of our unborn child. When we miscarried, my husband and I were in a season trying to control everything in our lives, and God used our first pregnancy and miscarriage to draws us closer to Him and remind us who was really in control.

(Please know that I am not saying God caused our miscarriage, just that He USED it.)

God loved me so much, He used the pain of miscarriage to grow me and sharpen me and bring me closer to Him. Our suffering became blessing in disguise.

In Romans 5:3-5, Paul reminds the Roman Church to rejoice in their sufferings! He says these sufferings aka trials/tribulations help us endure, which in turn shapes our character, ultimately giving us hope that does not put us to shame, but instead makes us more like Christ.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us.” - Romans 5:3-5, ESV

This verse became my life verse through all of the struggles I’ve experienced. It brought me peace in the midst of a storm and highlighted the truth that all the pain, the tears, and misery would be used for something far greater. To me, that is a blessing.

Biblical example of suffering

The Bible is filled with stories of real people going through trials. Let’s take the Apostle Paul. Paul gives us a short example in 2 Corinthians 11:22-27 of the suffering he endured during his time in ministry.

He had been in prison
Flogged
Exposed to death, again and again,
Lashed by the Jews 5 times
Beaten with rods 3 times
Pelted with stones
Shipwrecked 3 times.

He was always on the move yet never safe from nature, or bandits, from Jews or Gentiles, from the city or the country and he knew what it was like to be hungry, thirsty, cold, and naked.

Even in the midst of a storm (in prison), Paul wrote a letter to the Church of Philippi encouraging them in their faith. How many of us would ever have the strength to encourage anyone when we are in the middle of a storm? I barely have enough energy to encourage myself let alone an entire church!

In Philippians 4:4, he encouraged them to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Paul understood what it meant to suffer, and yet he held on to his belief and realized that his suffering could be used as a testimony for God's Glory.

Paul’s trials were blessings in disguise. Counting your blessings doesn’t mean you need to be happy for the pain and suffering you’re experiencing. Instead, it is about understanding how God is taking the opportunity to grow you, mold you, and use you to further His Kingdom.

Your pain is not in vain.

Paul was also the apostle who was given a thorn in the flesh to remind him of his dependency on the Lord. He begged God to remove the thorn and yet it remained (2 Corinthians 12:8). The Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The only way I know how to reconcile the fact that God did not save my baby, or heal my physical pain is by knowing that His power was (and still is) made perfect in my weakness.

Counting your blessings

As I look back over our marriage, I am reminded time and again how often God showed up for me in the middle of a painful season. Not even a month after moving overseas, our faith and strength were tested like never before.

This was the first time my husband and I had to mourn for a loss we shared together. As we navigated this pain, my husband got into a car accident further adding to the stressors of life. In the midst of that dark season, we grew closer as husband and wife. He learned to support me while managing his grief, and I learned how to be a safe place for my husband’s vulnerability.

Over the past few years, we have navigated many work trips, numerous deployments, the passing of a family members whose funeral we couldn’t attend, missed celebrations with the family, and countless missed milestones with our daughter.

I have been stretched thin serving my family in the best way possible, running my cup dry. I have cried out in desperation to God way too many times to count.

All of these events created a different kind of pain that felt unbearable at the moment. Yet, as I reflect on them, I can begin counting the blessings. These difficult seasons forced me to shift my eyes upward rather than inward at my own strength.

God has shown up at every turn, to carry us through, even when we don’t understand the why behind the trial.

Ultimately, it’s not about why we lost our baby, or why we have endured separation after separation, or why my body hurts as if I am far older than my true age, but how God has used those opportunities to sanctify us.

Be encouraged, friend, to allow God to use you during those seasons. Rejoice in knowing that although you may not understand why He will use it. There is a hidden blessing. Even if you don’t see it or feel it; trust Him.

When you look back, do you see how God was working through you? Did you find the hidden blessing in the thick of the mess?