Suffering and Struggles are Not Equal
So often we use the words suffering and struggles as though they were the same or held the power to be evil or good. They are neither.Â
What exactly do we mean by suffering and struggles?Â
Suffering is that thing we really hate and do everything we can to stay away from through our lives. Another word for suffering is pain. Suffering are those things that we are submitted, forced, endured, subjected to, or damaged by; labored under, or things we have sustained loss by. Examples are abuse, murder, terrorist attacks, death, unemployment, divorce, betrayal, accidents, etc. In some cases, we are the cause of our own suffering (holding an arm full of laundry and running down the stairs too fast to break our leg or stealing at work and getting fired). Most times suffering is caused by a source outside of ourselves. In anycase, WE ALL go through suffering to certain degrees through our life. It is unavoidable.
Struggles are different. Struggles deal with our control and the emotions and reactions we have during our suffering. Struggles are the things we do, say, believe and respond to based on our pain.
Suffering and struggles are neither good or bad….they just are. A person is not more spiritual because they go through less suffering or struggles and they are certainly not less faithful or spiritual if they endure great suffering and struggles. Sufferings fall on the most wicked person walking the earth and the most Godly person. Suffering is not a punishment but can certainly be used as a source of blessing, redemption, purpose and calling. Struggles are not to be feared or guilted away. Biblically speaking, a great many who were used greatly of God also struggled greatly with life and God, even to the point of desiring death (Job, Jeremiah, Paul, David among others)
Next time you are going through a struggle, realize you are in a process of wrestling out the fact that your control has been lost and there is pain left that you want to avoid. Allow yourself to feel what you feel then begin to write down your feelings so you can start seeing patterns. Most times our struggles are the same just the situations are different.
Be encouraged, it’s a journey not a destination.
Charlotte
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Copyright © 2021 by Charlotte D. Hunt All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, or otherwise without written permission from the author except for brief quotations in printed reviews.