The Test Before the Testimony: Embracing Suffering with Faith

• By candidasullivan
• February 28, 2025
• No Comments

Does the pain of it all seem overwhelming?

I get it. I really do. I’ve been so low that all I could do was cry and beg God to help me. I’ve doubted God in the trenches and wondered if things would ever get better. I’ve experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

When I share my stories and testimonies of victory, I want you to know that there was always suffering and great pain before the blessings. This morning, as I battle my demons, God reminds me that the pain is an excellent indication that the blessing is coming.

If we pause in the pain, put it off for another day, take our foot off the gas, and try to get out of the pain, we will only delay the blessing and cause the pain to last longer. The better option is to embrace the pain. When we sit with it and allow it to teach us, great things can happen.

Can we just acknowledge how hard it is to sit in the pain? It can sometimes feel impossible, and we might even feel it will destroy us. But God is there.

When we read Job’s story, even though God allowed Satan to attack Job, God never left his side. God was with Job through it all, even though it probably didn’t feel like it to Job. And at the end of all the suffering, when the test was over, God blessed Job greatly.

There is another perspective to consider. What if Job had started complaining and cursing God for allowing it to happen to him? What if he had turned away from God? While I can’t answer what God would do, I can assume things might have been different.

I like to think of my trials as tests. If I learn what I need to know, I can pass the test and get the reward. If I refuse to learn, I will continually repeat the test and stay in misery.

I don’t want to praise God only in good times; I want to praise Him through adversity, pain, uncertainty, and things I don’t understand.

While I don’t know the purpose of my trials, I do know the God who allows them. And I want to use it all to know Him in even greater ways.

When God applies pain to our lives, we can allow it to humble or harden us. We will draw closer to God if we allow it to humble us.

The good news is that God can take every ounce of our pain and use it for good. We just have to trust Him with our lives.

If you enjoyed this, please share it with someone else.