It is tempting to only praise God when we’re on the mountain and all is well. At the turn of every blessing, we rejoice.

 

Yet when the valley is where our feet land, we disappear from the sweet honoring of our God.

 

Hebrews 5:8

…though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.

 

Suffering is hard yet necessary. It is where we find out what we’re really made of. Whether we truly trust God or its mere lip service. We see whether what we believe or not is actually what we preach.

 

There have surely been times when I’ve had an angst against God for some troubling season that I unexpectedly encountered. These are seasons He walked me through to show me the heart of a true soldier of Christ.

 

Where you learn to stand back up after a fight with darkness trusting that while the pain is real, Jesus has every intent to use the valley of trouble to walk you through a new spiritual door of hope.

 

Obedience while in suffering molds warriors for the cross. How else might He prepare us for a real death of a constant barking flesh.

 

The truth is that without suffering we seem to ignore God. With crises we run to Him.

 

In His heart, eternity is way more significant than your earthly comfort is.

 

Suffering is a grand teacher that teaches us the deeper things of God.

 

We learn more intimately His nature. We enter into His Word with supernatural revelation as we are becoming more One with Him.

 

I can expect the betrayals in life to let me get more of a glimpse of the Savior.

 

I can expect the grief in life to help me feel the pain of God over the sadness of humanity.

 

I can also expect a newness of compassion to stir in me through suffering seasons because in some beautiful way I might catch a small wind of the nail pierced hands and feet.

 

With every lashing of the whip in my life through slander, abandonment, loss, or rejection I walk towards the cross myself.

 

Soon you see that you can endure through the power of the Spirit that dwells in you.

 

There is something so peaceful from within when you’ve learned obedience also through the things which you suffer.

 

In a way that is indescribable with mere words, you and I are becoming more one with Christ.