Suffering can serve to teach us.

L ife hurts. There will be suffering. There will be pain. But there’s more to the story. We can rejoice even when we are suffering because everything we go through will make us more like Christ. Good will come from it in time (see Romans 8:28).

Any suffering—death, divorce, sickness, pain—can be used by God to make us spiritually richer. Even our most traumatic experiences can be turned into gains. Joyce Meyer, Christian author and speaker, frequently mentions her past—of being sexually abused by her father for many years. God, however, turned evil into good. God turned that suffering into gain for his glory.

What we gain in suffering can be used to help others who may be going through something similar or struggling with the idea of a God who would allow suffering in the first place. Our suffering can not only bring good to ourselves but to others.

I once read that we respond to trials in one of two ways: bitter or better. The only difference is one letter—the I that refers to me (bitter) or the E that stands for Emmanuel (better).

To allow good to come from our suffering, we must first genuinely believe that good can come from hardship. Instead of wallowing in the loss, pain or sorrow, we can rise above it by thanking God for the good that will come from it in time.

Although we rarely recognize it, God is working in us in the midst of our suffering. “The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

When Job was suffering, he had many questions. When God gave him fresh revelation, Job responded with, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5). Suddenly Job knew all would be well—his “whys” turned to “Who.”

It is important that we learn to abide in Christ at all times—even when we are suffering. When I had my first miscarriage, I ran from God. I was angry and full of grief. The only words I spoke to him were angry accusations: “Why didn’t you prevent this. You could have, you know?”

Five months later, I suffered a second miscarriage. This time I chose to run to God. It made all the difference. Even though I still had questions, the answers weren’t quite so important. As I sat on the edge of my bed weeping, I felt the Lord beside me, weeping right along with me. I was sharing in his sufferings, and it was then I realized how important it is to abide in Christ at all times.

Jesus “endured the cross” because of “the joy that was set before him” (see Hebrews 12:1-3). He knew the suffering he would face, but he also knew the good that would come from it. He chose to focus on the good instead of the suffering.

We have the same choice. Anytime we suffer, we can focus on the suffering, saying, “Why, Lord?” or we can focus on the ultimate good that will come from the suffering.

Sometimes our greatest revelations come when suffering is the deepest. My greatest, concentrated spiritual growth came after my second miscarriage. By the time I had my third miscarriage, I had matured to the point where it wasn’t nearly as painful or sorrowful as the previous two. This time I was able to immediately receive the Lord’s comfort and ask what he wanted to do in and through me because of it.

We can rejoice when we are suffering because we “re sharing Christ’s sufferings so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).

God has not lost control but is still on the throne. He is always sovereign, always good. He has plans, “plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Life hurts, but Jesus makes it better.

Tammy Darling lives in Three Springs, Pa.