Finding Power and Purpose in Your Private Pain - Part 1

I have some very special people in my life who are suffering in silence.  No difficulty or suffering is easy, but to suffer in silence is, in my opinion, the hardest thing of all.

We’ve all been inspired by people whose stories of grief and pain were turned into a platform of inspiration and overcoming. We’ve read their books, watched their movies, and shared their stories on our social media feeds, from pulpits, and over coffee.  While we wouldn’t trade places with them, we can see how their suffering was transformed into something good.  It’s obvious from the massive number of people they help.  It’s even possible to assume that they also recognize their valley as a springboard for victory.  Courage shared is strength given.  If there is meaning in suffering, surely this must be it.

But not everybody gets a platform.  Not everyone writes a book.  Many people, like some in my own life, are facing the biggest battle of their lives in relative obscurity.  There is no romantic outcome expected.  Just daily difficulty.  Sometimes it is something that happened seemingly out of the blue, and dragged them out of the public view, and into what feels like a senseless, hopeless obscurity.  I bet you know someone like that.  You might even be that person.  

The book of Job, in the Hebrew Bible, is a comfort to some, but not to others.  It’s no comfort to me.  At the end of Job’s story, he is restored. Not in some eternal hereafter, but in the here and now.  And while true, no restoration could erase the pain of his past – it’s still a better outcome than many people face.  Job even got his wish, when in the book he says, “I wish my words written.  I wish they were printed in a book.”   We will never forget Job because we know his story.  You might feel forgotten because nobody knows yours. 

In what I would term “modern-day leprosy” you may feel pushed aside and forgotten.  The phone calls stopped a while ago.  Visits are less frequent.  You hear people, like me, say that you should never stop hoping.  You hear us say, “Be strong,” but for what?  What good is holding on to hope, and keeping up your strength if this is all you have left?  Why even try?  Giving in would bring such relief.  

I am not presuming to know your story.  I have suffered.  Sometimes I have suffered in silence. But, overall, I am able to stand.  I have the strength to work, and to do.  I recognize that. I have even been able to turn parts of my story into inspiration for others.  It isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing.   So why, if that’s not possible for you, should you even keep trying?

I think you should keep fighting.  I think it’s worth the battle, as long as you have strength.  There is value in striving, even if no one else knows but you and God.  There is a way to find power and purpose in how you respond to your trial.  Tomorrow, I’ll share how you might be able to do that.  For today, I just want you, and those special people in my life to know, that you aren’t alone.  I know it isn’t easy, but you are known.  And though it might feel like it, you are never truly alone.  I love you.