Transformed Through Suffering
Luann Budd
My husband had his knee replaced last month, so we've been going to church in our recliners. Last Sunday, Stanley Toussaint (1928-2017) brought us the Word. What continues to stand out: There is no growth without suffering (James 1).
As much as I'd like to prove otherwise, Dr. Toussaint is right. That's what James says. It is those times when we are most confused by what the Lord has allowed into our lives (a spouse with ALS, a wrenching decision to file for divorce, dementia, cancer, or divisiveness tearing apart our church) that we look back and see how the Lord matured us and used the pain for good.
"Unearned suffering is redemptive" was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s core principle. I think the Apostles agree. In Matthew 10, Jesus calls the Twelve because he loves them, and then gives them the worst job description ever. We often see God's faithfulness through the disorientation of change, dark times of deep anguish, and times when we simply have to wait. When we meet suffering with grace rather than bitterness, it transforms us into women our younger selves wouldn't even recognize. So don't lose hope. God is at work in you, even in the mess—especially in the mess.
Walking with the Lord is a journey that includes suffering. When we learn to bring the hard things to the Lord, we find he speaks to us, comforts us, and leads us, often through the Word.
It's our prayer that when the rug gets kicked out from under us, we will know God is close at hand. He will get us through. He will use other people. He will speak to us through his Word. And he will transform us, using the unearned suffering to grow us up: "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:4).