If you’ve ever struggled with trying to find a purpose behind your pain, then you need to read this. Maybe it’s a sickness that has lingered far too long. Perhaps it’s a long-standing medical ailment that will only get worse over time, accompanying you for the rest of your mortal days. Maybe it’s a relationship that’s causing you pain, other family members unable to get a handle on life and you’re left suffering the collateral damage. Perhaps it’s a job that drains you or a boss whose only aim in life is to make you miserable. Or maybe your pain has to do with your faith. God is silent; God is absent; God isn’t answering your prayers.
Pain on some level will always be ever-present in your life, but you don’t need to walk through life struggling to find a purpose behind your pain. One of the reasons Christians look to Scripture for guidance and wisdom is because truth never changes and human nature never changes, so God’s Word written thousands of years ago still applies to us today. In the first century, James started his letter to the early Christians with a reminder about five ways your pain has a purpose, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4, NIV). From these eternal words, here are six ways your pain has a purpose.
