Sculpted by Suffering: How God Uses Our Hardest Moments

• By candidasullivan
• June 23, 2026
• No Comments

Have you ever stumbled to God with a prayer that felt too big, impossible, and so incredibly painful? 

I’ve experienced weeping moments. Devastating moments. Hopeless moments. Moments when it felt too painful to take the next breath. Moments that I thought would break me into so many pieces that I would never be whole again. 

But I’ve also experienced God moments. Moments that awed me and wowed me and pushed me to the edge of impossible, only to show me that through God, any moment is possible with Him. 

I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know how God is going to do it. I don’t know when. But I do know that if you don’t give up, it’s possible. He can make a way right through the impossible. 

When there doesn’t seem to be a way, God shows us that He is our only way. He is our strength. And everything we need. 

Sometimes, I would love to go back to my younger self and whisper two words: “Trust God.”

I’ve caused myself so much pain resisting the change, trying to change what I couldn’t control, and thinking I knew better than God. I say that I thought I knew better than God because I worried about the situation. I didn’t trust Him when He told me it would be okay. 

I tried to fix it myself, but I made things worse. 

I doubted His ability to fix my problems. Maybe not with my words, but my actions told a different story. I cried myself to sleep when my Father had a plan. All I could see was the pain. I couldn’t see how my Lord could take every ounce and use it for something good. 

But He did. He used it to change me. I’m not the same person who entered the fire. 

God knows all of the steps and ingredients to answer our prayers and to make us fruitful for Him. At times, it hurts. Deeper than anything you will ever encounter. But it’s so worth it. 

If God allows the pain, He has a purpose for it. We need the pain and pressure applied perfectly to sculpt us into a vessel God can use. God doesn’t leave us in the molding. He is there with us. He knows exactly what we need. 

When it feels like everything is falling apart, perhaps God is rearranging things and creating something beautiful in us. To truly be fruitful, we have to be willing for God to change us. The change might hurt. But it will produce beautiful, useful, much-needed fruit. 

Hold on, sweet friend. God is sculpting a masterpiece in you.