💔 In Love with the Suffering: Faith in the Fire

There’s something that I’ve really come to understand as I’ve walked through life—especially these past few years. Even when situations are hard, even when I feel broken, even when the tears don’t stop falling... there's this strange beauty I've found:

I’m in love with the suffering.

Not because I’m addicted to pain. Not because I want to struggle. But because I’ve come to realize that suffering is one of the most intimate stages where I can show God just how deep my faith really goes.

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”— Romans 5:3–4 (ESV)

These moments—the hopeless ones, the disappointing ones, the ones where I feel stretched to my limit—are also the spaces where God shows me the most. He reveals the gaps in my character, the flaws in my trust, the places in me still trying to do it all without Him. And instead of running from that, I’ve learned to love it.

Because it’s in the fire that the impurities are burned away. It’s in the pressure that diamonds are made.

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”— Job 23:10 (NIV)

This life isn’t about avoiding trials. It’s about recognizing that each one is an opportunity—an opportunity to grow, to shift, to surrender.

You’re not in competition with God. You’re not even in competition with other people. The real competition is you vs. the version of you that refuses to grow. The you who wants comfort over calling. The you who wants ease over endurance. The you who wants control over surrender.

But here’s the truth:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”— James 1:2–3 (NIV)

Joy in the suffering. Not because of the pain, but because of the purpose.

So, today, I encourage you—whoever you are, wherever you’re reading this from—don’t despise the challenges. Embrace them. Let them highlight the parts of you that still need Jesus. Let them show you just how much deeper you can go.

Fall in love with the refining process.Because the stronger, wiser, more faithful version of you is on the other side.