We have all asked the question, “If there is a God, why is there suffering?” But how often have we asked, “If there is no God, why are there people who still believe in Him despite all of their sufferings and pain?”
After reading the book, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty, I have learned of one such person who continues to believe in God despite her tremendous pain. Because of a diving accident, Joni has lived as a quadriplegic for decades that has kept her mostly in her wheelchair, and recently, she has suffered tremendous pangs of pain from a fracture at the back of her spine. Despite all of these however, she continues to have faith. In fact, her faith becomes even more deeper as she clings to God more tightly in her dependency upon His Grace.
Below are just some of the excerpts in the book:
“Whatever you want, Lord…whether I jump out of my wheelchair pain free and tell people that my healing is genuine evidence of God’s awesome power… or whether I continue smiling in my chair, not in spite of my pain but because of it, knowing I’ve got lessons to learn, a character to be honed, other wounded people to identify with, a hurting world to reach with the gospel, and a suffering Savior with whom I can enjoy greater intimacy. And every bit of it genuine evidence of God’s love and grace.”
“To this point, as I pen this chapter, He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.”
How could we ignore such words? How could we not notice the kind of faith that lives within a heart that suffers from so much pain?
It is so difficult to believe when one is suffering , but I guess it is more difficult not to believe a person who keeps on believing despite her pain. That is the reason I wanted to share this book with you, so may be blessed by it and by Joni’s story, as it has blessed me.
It is true that we are God’s beloved children, and that by all means, we expect our Father to love us and provide us with everything we need. But even in the seeming absence of riches, and even in the presence of pain, we cannot conclude that God isn’t there anymore, and that He doesn’t love us anymore. We are after all, still mere pilgrims in this world. This is not yet the end. In fact, this is still a battlefield where we continue to fight for everything we hold dear.
These are Joni’s own words:
“At different times in my life I’ve enjoyed the old pictures of Jesus cradling cute lambs or walking around with blow-dried hair, clad in a white robe looking like it just arrived from the dry cleaner. But these days, these warfare days, those old images just don’t cut it for me. I need a battlefield Jesus at my side down here in the dangerous, often messy trenches of daily life. I need Jesus the rescuer, ready to wade through the pain, death, and hell itself to find me, grasp my hand, and bring me safely through.”
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The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"