Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope.
Into the Text
Nobody signs up for suffering. If given the choice, most of us would skip straight to the other side of it. I know I would.
And yet every time I find myself in a hard season, I come back to the same passage. Romans 5 never lets me down. Paul writes that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Don’t rush past that. Suffering is not just something God permits; it is something He purposefully and intentionally uses for our good. There are things that can only be grown in us through the hard, painful seasons we would never choose for ourselves.
I’ve learned this the hard way. The seasons I wanted out of the most were often the seasons God was doing the deepest work in me. He doesn’t waste hard seasons. He redeems them.
Joseph waited thirteen years between his dream and its fulfillment. Thirteen long years of slavery, false accusations, and prison. And yet when God’s timing finally arrived, Joseph was ready. The waiting had done its work. The patience forged through suffering had shaped him into exactly the man God needed him to be.
I love that about God. He is not watching from a distance, waiting for your suffering to be over. He is right there with you in the middle of it, like the good Father that He is, holding your hand and doing some of the most sacred work of your life.
Sweet friend, persevere in this hard season. Don’t waste this opportunity for growth by getting caught up in complaining, wishing the season away, or pulling away from God. Your waiting is doing its work, too. Don’t despise the process. Suffering, though painful, is one of the ingredients God uses to mature us and make us more like Jesus.
Not one moment of your pain is wasted in His loving hands. Good days are ahead. Hold on.