Why God Allows Hardships + My Encouragement to YOU

So many people find that it’s in their hardest moments when they feel broken or lost, that they finally turn to God in a way they never had before. It’s like the pain softens your heart, strips away the distraction, and makes you realize your deep need for grace, love, and healing. And Christ meets us right there—in the middle of the mess, in the pain—offering peace, forgiveness, and restoration.

In today’s episode, we dive into an incredibly powerful and necessary conversation: how pain and suffering draw us closer to Christ and shape our faith.

What we’ll cover:

1. How Pain and Suffering Brought You to Christ:

   • C.S. Lewis on pain as God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world (“The Problem of Pain”)

   • Why it’s often in our hardest moments of brokenness that we truly encounter God’s grace, love, and healing.

   • How pain softens our hearts and strips away distractions, leading us to the peace, forgiveness, and restoration Christ offers.

     
     

2. Viewing Suffering Through the Right Lens:

   • The importance of viewing our suffering through the lens of scripture, not the world’s perspective.

     
     

3. Understanding the Purpose of Suffering and Our Response:

   • Lessons from the Story of Job

   • The testimony of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot

   • Why suffering brings humility, growth, healing, and hope (Romans 5:3-5)

   • Malcolm Muggeridge on the importance of suffering in shaping human character

   • How Jesus endured suffering with joy for the greater glory ahead (Hebrews 12:2)

   • Suffering prepares us for more glory (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

     
     

   “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” — Jim Elliot

   
   

4. Hope for the Brokenhearted and Down-Trodden:

   • God’s promise to wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:1-4)

   • Comfort in the midst of suffering (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Isaiah 43, Psalm 23, Psalm 91:1)

   • Elizabeth Elliot on understanding suffering through God’s love

   • Janet Erskine Stuart: “Joy is not the absence of suffering but the presence of God”

   • Insights from Corrie Ten Boom on embracing the cross we are given

   • A challenge to hold loosely to earthly things and promises, keeping our eyes fixed on eternal hope

     
     

“Lead on, O King Eternal, I follow not with fears.” — Jim Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty (written by Elizabeth Elliot)

If you’re in a season of pain or confusion, this episode is here to remind you that your suffering is not wasted — it’s producing endurance, character, and hope. Tune in and be encouraged as we explore how God meets us in our mess and uses our pain for His glory and our growth.