From Sidelined to Thriving
“Where do you go from here? Can God possibly have a purpose for the suffering that has turned your life into a hot mess?”
I began my senior year of college horribly depressed. It had nothing to do with ending the “best years of my life” and everything to do with the summer internship I had survived.
I had been intentional in choosing my internship. It wasn’t going to be showy, nothing to humblebrag about. But even with those expectations, the two months of interning chewed me up.
The first week back at school, I remember calling my brother, a new freshman on campus, and barely choking out where I was. He came and found me, holding me while I cried.
I was lost.
Before that summer, it seemed as though God had something meaningful in mind for my future. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but still, I trusted that if I just kept moving forward, doing what I knew to do, God would put me in a place where I could do good work for His Kingdom. But that summer convinced me that I had nothing left to offer God.
I was used up.
I stumbled through my final year of college, graduated, and moved back home. I didn’t even bother applying for a job. At 22, the life I thought lay before me was scrapped.
I felt sidelined.
My peers were going on to do great things for God, and I was keeping house for my parents and babysitting preschoolers.
It may seem a bit melodramatic. People graduate from college all the time without knowing what they want to do in life. Plenty of twenty-somethings move back home and pick up odd jobs that have nothing to do with the degree they spent thousands of dollars to obtain.
Yet it seemed that I was broken, unable to do the things that mattered most.
My story is not the same as yours, but perhaps you, too, have felt certain that God has written you off His ministry team. A lost job, chronic illness, a car accident you’ve never recovered from, crippling debt, or a high-needs child… any one of these – and so much else – can make it seem that the story of how God is using you has been slammed shut and put on the highest shelf.
The suffering is hard enough by itself, but the disillusionment and disorientation is worse.
Where do you go from here? Can God possibly have a purpose for the suffering that has turned your life into a hot mess?
The answer is yes.
In fact, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns,” (Philippians 1:6, NLT). God isn’t an artist with a shelf of abandoned works in progress. He isn’t a crafter with a closet full of scraps and extras. He’s not a builder who walks away from an unfinished project. “For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you’” (Hebrews 13:1, NLT).
So, if God hasn’t walked away from you, what is He doing? He permits hardship to refine us, to bring to light aspects of ourselves that we need Him to deal with. He uses suffering to enable us to better help others, and to stir in us a longing for our true home, our eternal home.
And that’s just the beginning. Your response to suffering can be like a mathematical proof standing for all of eternity: Therefore, given that [Your Name] clung to God even when trials and hardship nearly overwhelmed [Him/Her], then God is worthy of great praise.
Of course, God is not limited to only accomplishing those things through your suffering. He tells us, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9, NLT). Our best guess as to what God is doing can never come close to fully covering God’s purposes. In the words of John Piper, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.”
Is it enough, then, to just know that God has His purposes for your trials? Do reasons make it worthwhile to just muscle through the hardship?
No, God never designed for you to go through the trials you face alone. His desire for you is for you to prosper (Jeremiah 29:11) and He’s got a storehouse of new mercies reserved for you to help make that happen… so ask for them!
I invite you to learn more about God’s purposes and mercies in your suffering by picking up a copy of the book A New Normal: Learning to Thrive in Suffering. And because one of God’s mercies is Christian community and fellowship, invite a few others to join you in reading and discussing the truths in this book.
It took me some time to realize that God still had a plan for me. I thought I was living without purpose, but looking back, I can see so much of my life’s direction rising out of that season.
What more can I say, except to borrow the words of Psalm 40:5:
“O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”
God’s plans for you are many and wonderful, no matter what hardship seems to have derailed your life.
Written By—Rebecca Olson
Rebecca Olson spent many of her formative years as a child of missionaries in a war-torn country. She’s served with Joni and Friends in various capacities since 2006, and during that time she’s contributed to several books, including The Beyond Suffering Bible, Life in the Balance Study Guide, and Real Families, Real Needs. She and her husband David have four children.
A New Normal: Learning to Thrive in Suffering
Life can change in an instant. A car accident. A medical diagnosis. Loss of a job. How can you survive and thrive when your world is shattered? “A New Normal” walks you through the questions you may be asking as you process a long-term trial or a devastating loss. Be encouraged that God’s mercies are new every morning. Your pain is an invitation to know the heart of Jesus and to hope in the restoration that the Lord will work on your behalf.
