Under the Microscope
The photo you see depicts lymphoma cells. They are the same type of cells that almost killed my daughter four years ago.
Then, she was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma and went through a grueling and painful treatment protocol. Today, she is at the University of California in Davis doing cancer research. She snapped that photo as she stared at those cells under the microscope.
Suffering in this life is inescapable, and a tremendous mystery that none of us is capable of truly understanding. If we try to align the mystery of suffering with a Christian God who loves us, the notion of a loving God cannot possibly be deduced by human logic. We may wonder: Where is God in all of this? Why is God allowing this to happen? Is there an eternal and perfectly loving purpose behind it all?
If only we could look under a microscope and see the intricate detail behind the reasons for pain and suffering. How wonderful it would be to analyze, from all angles, those things we don’t understand on the surface. With such clarity, we might be able to accept pain and suffering with more ease, grace, and peace. Instead, we must trust and endure with faith that there is a purpose behind pain, suffering and grief.
My life has had its fair share of hard times, but out of that pain has come the steadfast and unshakable conviction that God is love. I believe there are many painful things that happen that we can’t do anything about, but that God wants us to do something with.
During my daughter’s painful recovery process, she developed a passion for health and nutrition that led to an interest in the medical field – and she is now doing cancer research at a top research university. That awful period of her life turned into something beautiful – God turned her pain into purpose.
Is there suffering in your life today? I want to encourage you and remind you that God can take anything that happens to you and form it into a pattern for good. You may not be able to see the small details at the time but trust that He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons, and some of the greatest gifts in my life have come out of the greatest suffering.
As powerful as our human wisdom is, it can only take us to a certain point; after that there are infinite possibilities for which we know nothing about, things we are uncapable of seeing with human eyes. I don’t believe we’ll find intellectual satisfaction to many of the questions we have about suffering on this side of heaven, but I do know that you can find peace – not in an explanation, but in a person: Jesus.
Romans 8:28 | And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Wanna pray?
God, suffering often causes us to be confused and fall into despair. You alone know the answers to the great mystery behind human suffering, and you alone can offer a peace that surpasses all understanding. Help us to trust in your goodness and love. Where there is pain, help us to see an opportunity for you to turn something terrible into something wonderful.