When You Are Suffering, You Are Never Alone.

One hard life lesson that I’ve learned is that when I’m suffering, I am never alone. It’s a hard lesson, because when I’m suffering I naturally want sympathy; I want someone to look on me and offer their help or their understanding. But more often than not, that’s not what happens.

Usually when I’m going through a hard time, my brother, sister, my husband or child is also going through something difficult at the same time. It’s almost like pain and suffering were designed to attack and to destroy us; it’s timing not synchronized to our suffering individually, but rather collectively. It is a rare occurrence, that we would have time enough to comfort another person, before needing to be aided as we suffer. No, it usually happens all at the same time.

We are tempted to judge others more harshly when suffering comes our way. Depending on the severity of the suffering, we may judge our friends, family, those truly closest to us, even God, for not caring about our needs. We may even turn to judging ourselves and bringing a depression that only causes us to sink deeper into our despair and pain. We crave someone to recognize that we are hurting and need help.

This is where mercy comes in. The ability to look past our own hurt and recognize the pain that others are enduring. It’s hard to look up when all we want to do is sink in despair and just want well-deserved pity. It’s hard to find strength within ourselves. Thankfully as a christian, Christ promises us that if we give him our burdens, he will give us rest in himself. We naturally want to give our burdens over to anyone else in our life expecting them to carry their loads and ours while we take the time to rest; but the truth is, none of us are strong enough to carry everyone’s burdens. None of us are perfect, not even those who are closest to us.

We all are looking for something, someone to help us get through when times get tough; almost drowning ourselves and dragging others down with us. The truth is the only one strong enough to hold us every time, through every trial no matter how big or small, is Christ. We must cling to Him in prayer, pouring our hearts and souls to him. He will not turn us away, nor dismiss our pain as trivial. He is there waiting for us to look up to him and cry out for help, just as Jesus was there to pull Peter out of the crashing waves of the sea. He knows our pains and sorrows. He took them all onto himself when he went willingly to the cross for our sins. Oh, how truly deep his love is for us!

When you are suffering, don't be silent. That's what Satan wants us to do. To close ourselves off from the world around us, and to internalize our suffering, trying to handle it all on our own. Don’t expect others to know and fulfill your needs. We must first look to God to bring us comfort. He will give us truth and wisdom and bring and enable the right people along to sustain us; to give us encouragement; to help strengthen us and lift us up out of despair. And if there is no one else, and if no one else sees our cries for help, we know that our Father hears us and will bring us back up and give us the strength we need to endure.

If you are drowning in suffering, look to God's Word and His promises. Pray and claim His strength, peace, and comfort. Cry out to Him for deliverance. Trust that He will bring you through. Then you will have the strength to endure, and to look up to see who else is enduring along with you. Then you will have more mercy towards those whom you might have disdained and perhaps they will be the answer to a prayer instead of the friend who you thought forsook you. Look at the only one who took upon himself all our suffering and trust that he will lead you to still waters.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

" Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7

" He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:3-6