How many of us pray every night to be spared from pain and suffering? Certainly, none of us want to have any of it albeit this is inevitable. When faced with serious illness, divorce or separation, death of a loved one, financial struggles, job loss and the list could go on, we feel we are on the brink of our own doomsday. We cower, we feel isolated, stressed, lonely and desperate. Then we self-sabotage and begin to question where we fall short.
Sufferings can either be the result of our own decisions or of circumstances that are beyond our control. Either way, they are no fun but what good can we get from going through sufferings?
Let’s highlight the transformative power of sufferings:
We grow through sufferings. We discover our inner strength, skills and abilities we never knew we have. This pandemic has been an eye-opener for most of us. Job losses have forced us to think of ways to earn extra income or find some side hustle.
When my husband died barely three months after our wedding, I felt so lost, in despair, totally shocked of what had just happened. My world crumbled and I was torn between grieving and fighting for survival as the young widow me was also six weeks pregnant. Emotionally, I suffered a lot on that loss, my pain has left me completely immobilized. Looking back ten years later, I can say that that event in my life certainly made a big impact on me. The pain I had gone through, the lonely nights and the unending what-ifs had molded me to become resilient in the face of adversity. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, had me introspect my own abilities and characteristics and built in me an oasis of self-sufficiency.
Problems, pain and sufferings are like portals that lead us to spiritual awakening. It makes us appreciative even the smallest of things and those things we take for granted.
When we go through terrible illnesses, it teaches us to become more compassionate on the sufferings of others. We begin to realize that we are not the centre of this universe and are reminded of our own limitations as humans. It strips off in us that sense of entitlement.
According to Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher and one of the most influential modern thinkers, “The discipline of suffering, of great suffering – do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?’’ Nietzsche believed that it is through sufferings that we can test our true abilities and discover our worth.
The next time we are confronted by problems, ill-treatment, hate, pain and sufferings, welcome them and embrace them as they could be the epiphany you are waiting for. Like a pencil, we have to undergo a lot of painful sharpening before we can create beautiful marks.
As Romans 5:3-4 puts it beautifully, “ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character.”