Can Suffering Be Good?

This confession came from one of the Seeing Gold reflections in the book. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. —Psalm 119:72

A quote from this reflection that I wanted to share, before I get into my thoughts for how this confession affects me today is that "suffering can teach us valuable things about God and His Word because as we learn to turn to Him in our distress, He meets us there and shows us things we may not have gotten any other way." The verse right before the verse my mom committed to memory says "my suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees." (NLT) I added this verse into the reflection because it struck me as I read the chapter and felt like it was very relevant.

As I think about where I'm at today, 4 years later from the time of writing this book, I do believe the suffering can serve a very important purpose in life, if I'm willing to allow it to do so. I have experienced a lot of suffering in my life, the worst being the experience of losing custody of my 2 year old daugther, who is now 16. We are still apart, yet our bond is still alive and I am grateful for that. The way that I have managed through such a painful life experience has been to cling to God and to tell Him how I'm feeling and where I'm struggling. Many days I have felt like the decision I made to allow God to take special care of my daughter, was a greater burden than I felt like I could carry. Granted God has given me good friends to help carry this burden with me and I am very grateful for that.

I find that if I had known the weight of the sacrifice I was making, I may have made a different choice. So, I'm grateful that God doesn't tell us everything about what we're walking into when we follow him. He knows what is necessary for us to know about His plan and what is not. I can say that the suffering I have experienced has shaped me in ways that I wouldn't trade for anything. I have become tethered to God. He is my partner in life and I know that no matter what, He takes care of me and He will always take care of Danielle. I can trust Him. I can honestly say that the suffering did serve a good purpose in my life and while I don't like suffering, I know that if I'm willing to submit to the way that God would choose to use it, I will experience so much joy and blessing in the end as I cling to God and trust Him to see me through it.

Many Blessings to you dear reader!

Loretta Fralin-Rapp

On another note...

This book, Confessions for the Narrow Road: a Journey with My Mom, is now out and available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. There is a link on the home page of this website. I hope that you will order your copy today and let me know when you get it. You can follow me on Instagram and send me a DM @lorettafralinrapp.